NJ Sports Betting Drives Revenue Surge For SugarHouse Online Casino
SugarHouse online casino announced Monday that its revenue more than doubled from August 2018 to September 2018. The digital gaming brand attributed the massive increase to its NJ online sportsbook and the start of football season.
SugarHouse is the online arm of the Philadelphia-based casino owned by Rush Street Gaming. Rush Street Interactive launched the NJ sports betting site as part of the online platform on Aug. 23.
The company did not release specific revenue numbers though Mattias Stetz, the chief operating officer of Rush Street Interactive, was excited about the report:
“We’re very happy with the numbers we are seeing. We see that the player base is continuing to grow as the word spreads about the quality and volume of the different live in-game bets at PlaySugarHouse.com. We are at the start of the football season and are excited to see our numbers keep climbing.”
In eight days of operation, SugarHouse Sportsbook collected more than $103,000 in revenue for August. By comparison, PlayMGM made less than $50,000 with a one day head start.
SugarHouse Sportsbook and an NJ online casino
In Atlantic City and other locations, adding a sportsbook to a venue required some work but fit into the existing structure.
SugarHouse online casino had the same strategy when developing its NJ online sportsbook: just add it to what’s there now.
Both online and in the app, SugarHouse integrated the sportsbook to its established NJ gambling website. With just a tap or click, players can access prices, props, and parlays on sports from around the world.
When launched, SugarHouse Sportsbook boasted “the first gaming operator in the US to launch an integrated online sportsbook and casino.”
Existing accounts could bet with their available balances and payment options. New players enjoy a 100 percent deposit match up to $250.
“Being the first US-based gaming operator to launch a regulated online sportsbook outside of the US has been helpful in establishing the SugarHouse Online Sportsbook & Casino,” said Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive, in a release when the book opened. “We’ve matured our sportsbook product and validated that players value our proprietary sportsbook loyalty program, including earning points on every single bet.”
The site avoided early pitfalls by leveraging established relationships with banking institutions and PayPal to allow players easy deposits and withdrawals.
SugarHouse NJ online casino opened in 2016. It brought a well-known and trusted brand to the marketplace (try watching anything on NBCSports Philadelphia without seeing one of the SugarHouse commercials).
Betting options + NFL football
The book averaged more than $11,000 in revenue in eight days of August. Players had baseball, soccer, and some preseason football.
That menu, though, was just the appetizer. September brought a feast of sports betting options: the NFL regular season.
SugarHouse has 50 in-game bets available for pro football. In the Week 1 early Sunday window, more than 300 in-play options existed.
Despite its Philadelphia presence, PlaySugarHouse has seen its biggest single-game handles come from the New York teams.
Low gameday vigs are a plus
Partnering with Kambi on pricing, the site has been able to distinguish itself in the competitive NJ sports betting online market with the lowest day-of-game vigorish on spread and total bets.
“We have several vig options settings, and we have decided to live by our tagline ‘you deserve more’ and give the best possible odds to our players,” Stetz said to NJBetting.com last week.
“We believe this gives the best user experience, which is our goal.”
Players who check the site on gameday will see lines matching other books with lower prices.
For instance, in Week 4, SugarHouse Sportsbook listed the Colts as +1 at home to Houston with a -107 price. The same bet was -112 on other sites.
In a competitive market such as New Jersey, that five-cent price difference could be a huge plus.
The site offers other intriguing promotions and incentives for players. For the Red Sox-Yankees playoff series, betting $50 on each of the first two games put bettors in the running for tickets to Game 3 in the Bronx.
Comparatively, the site doesn’t rely as heavily on odds boosts or multi-leg parlays as some of its competitors.
An increase in online casino betting, too
SugarHouse Sportsbook has prided itself on offering more favorable odds. But all the sports betting also helped give its NJ online casino a boost.
“Our casino bets have also grown since the launch of sports betting,” said Stetz. “Thanks to the deep integration of the sportsbook and the casino in both Android and iOS mobile apps and the desktop site, and players being able to use the same account and wallet, PlaySugarHouse.com casino has also grown across the board.”
What’s next for SugarHouse?
SugarHouse online casino has put itself in a strong position to vault up the NJ sports betting revenue rankings. The September revenue report is due from the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement later this month.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, the company’s license application will be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board at the end of October. The state already approved three books to operate in the Keystone State.
Bottom line, things are looking up for SugarHouse Sportsbook and its NJ sports betting plans. September’s revenue jump is a sign of better things to come.