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New Jersey reported gambling revenue of more than $6 billion in 2024, across all metrics, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes. The Garden State has the oldest sports betting market in the US, other than Nevada, and it has regulated online casinos. In contrast, Florida does not regulate online casinos, only has very limited sports betting, and casino gambling is restricted to Indian tribal lands. But, there have been calls to change Florida’s laws, to open up the market for residents while also potentially generating large amounts of state tax.
New Jersey’s online casino industry has been regulated since 2013, before the 2018 ruling that allowed states to determine their own gambling legislation. Casinos need to host their servers within Atlantic City, where all of the state’s retail casinos must be located, however. As well as sports betting sites and online casinos registered in the state, NJ players use online options such as Samba Slots Casino games, offering a huge range of slot machine variants, a secure playing environment, and a good variety of payment options and bonuses.
Florida’s gambling laws are a little more complicated, at least in some regards. The state does not have legalized retail casinos, but there are six casinos owned and operated by the Seminole tribe on tribal land. There are also card rooms across the state, and slot machines can be found in select venues. Online casinos are not legalized, however, although there have been calls to change that. Mobile sports betting is available via Hard Rock Bet after a two-year dispute saw the service taken down, but further regulation would help open this market up too.
In NJ, online casinos are closing the gap on land-based casinos. Online casinos experienced a 24% jump in revenue, compared to the 1.1% of retail casinos. Sports betting saw a significant boost of 8.7%, resulting in revenue of $1.09 billion in 2024 alone.
Considering Florida is home to three NFL, two MLB, two NBA, and two NHL teams, there would be a host of sportsbooks looking to offer their services in the state. Pari-mutual betting is permitted on horse racing, harness horse racing, greyhound racing, and jal alai games. But this only brings in a fraction of the revenue that full sports betting would offer.
Florida has eight slot casinos, offering slot machines, video slots, and related games. These generate approximately $60 million a month in revenue. Again, this figure could be substantially higher if the market was opened up and retail casinos were permitted to offer a full range of table games.
From July 2024 to January 2025, Florida’s card rooms posted revenue of nearly $130 million, which shows that Floridians have an appetite for a more expansive selection of casino games and other games of luck. New Jersey has recently mooted the idea of increasing taxes on online casinos, as part of a plan to raise an additional $1 billion a year in tax, which gives some idea of the amount of revenue Florida is potentially missing out on.
