The long build toward New Jersey sportsbooks handling $1 billion in wagers in a single month finally reached that mark with the $1,011,114,311 for September announced on Monday by state regulators.
The progress toward becoming the first state in the U.S. to clear that remarkable threshold wasn’t all that linear.
Two weeks of action in the launch month of June 2018 produced a modest $16.4 million in wagers, which more than doubled that July, and that more than doubled in August, only to nearly double again in September 2018, when more than $183.9 million represented the first triple-digit figure for handle.
The first $200 million month came in October 2018 ($260.7 million), and $300 million was cleared the following month ($330.7 million).
After a modest dip in December to $319.2 million, January 2019 brought another record of $385.3 million.
But the end of the NFL season (except for the Super Bowl) meant that then-peak was not expected to be toppled in any of the next seven months — and it was not.
Along came September 2019, and the $400 million barrier fell ($445.6 million). Two months later, a half-billion dollars in bets was taken ($562.7 million).