While some parts of the world were feeling a shiver due to cold weather, the state of New Jersey was busy filling its coffers with new sports betting revenue. According to new stats, the state nearly tripled its revenue during the first month of 2020.

Half a billion dollars in the handle

According to new figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, both land-based and online sportsbook operators of the state handled $540.1 million in January 2020. It marks a 40% increase in revenue year-on-year but fails to reach the state’s previous record of $562.7 million set in November 2019.

Interestingly, the digital handle for the month was $471.1 million, which represents 87.2% of the total wagering handle. It had a slight downside from December 2019 when the online betting handle was 87.6% of the total. The handle generated a revenue of $53.56 million, marking a 185.2% improvement since last month. It was higher than the previous record revenue of $46.4 million in October 2019.

Super Bowl caught on

The increased betting handle is clearly a result of the Super Bowl. The February 2 event generated a handled of $54.2 million with a net loss of $4.3 million. According to the DGE, the complete events handle for January 2020 was $527.1 million, with a revenue of $44 million.

The most promising stars of this revolution were FanDuel by Flutter Entertainment, Pointsbet, and Meadowlands racetrack. Combined together, they brought in a revenue of $26.5 million during the month, which is $11.6 million higher than their previous record. Interestingly, only $4.27 million of this amount came through non-digital channels.

Resorts Digital Gaming also became a leader in the game as its DraftKings and The Stars Group betting businesses brought in $15.9 million. This was $6.6 million higher month-on-month. The Resorts Casino Hotel’s retail betting operations brought in another $163k to their total.

As these operations took a major chunk of the state’s total revenue, others were left with smaller pieces of the pie. William Hill partner Monmouth Park earned $3.7 million during the month, and retail betting accounted for $884k of the total. BetMGM partner, the Borgata Casino, earned about $3.2 million. The Ocean Resort Casino earned $2.34 million, earning only $377k online.

New Jersey’s punters have new opportunities with Academy Awards betting as well. The handle for this year was close to $380k, nearly 50% below last year’s $748k. The books earned only $40k from this year’s handle.