From New Jersey to Maryland, there are all sorts of key headlines in the gaming world this past week. We’ll start with the May casino revenue numbers, which continue to impress.
New Jersey Gambling Industry Rises 15 Percent During May
The gambling industry in New Jersey just keeps on climbing. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has crunched the May numbers and released them this week. They have reported that the gambling industry increased a total of 15 percent during May. The grand total that they collected was $430.6 million. In May of 2021, they were able to bring in just $374.2 million.
From year to date, New Jersey’s gambling industry has brought in a total of $2.03 billion. This is actually a large 18.1 percent increase compared to the $1.72 billion that they brought in during the same span last year.
When it comes to the handle during May, sportsbooks reported $766.4 million in just this particular month. Adding this onto the rest of their handle throughout the 2022 year so far and it comes out to approximately $5.1 billion.
Penn National Gaming Involved With Insider Trading According To Feds
Penn National Gaming, which owns 44 gaming properties throughout 21 US states (Ameristar, Hollywood Casino), has found itself mired in a very serious case. It’s being reported that a person who was associated with Penn Interactive Ventures – the organization’s subsidiary – has been accused of insider trading. This was in connection to the massive deal that saw Penn National bring in Score Media and Gaming for $2 billion.
David Roda, the man in question, was reportedly giving away valuable information to people about the company’s interest in Score Media. Because of this, Roda had decided to purchase 500 call options on Score Media just a little bit before they announced the large purchase.
Roda was also accused of informing a close friend of his, Andrew Larkin. Larkin was charged similarly to Roda. Roda and Larkin have both been ordered to pay a specific sum of money along with other civil penalties. Larkin will need to pay about $11,000 in total for disgorgement penalties also.
Governor Of Maryland Wants Sports Betting Soon
The Governor of Maryland is starting to get frustrated with the lack of progress on sports betting in the state. Gov. Larry Hogan recently sent out a letter to push gambling regulators to speed up the process of the legalization of online sports betting. Chances are that he will be hoping to get it set up before the start of the upcoming NFL season.
Maryland, fortunately, has retail sportsbooks in the state already that are fully functional. In fact, they were able to pick up over $155 million in handle dating back to when they launched in December.
While it might seem like they are being held back too much by not having online sports betting available, the numbers say otherwise. Out of all the states that have both online and retail sports betting, 90 percent of total wagers are placed online. Chances are that Maryland is missing out on a ton of extra revenue by not having online sportsbooks up and running already. With the rest of the country quickly trying to get this legalized also, Maryland isn’t looking to be the final train at the station.