SugarHouse Drops Golden Nugget for Monmouth to offer NBA Betting

Rush Street Interactive, the gaming company behind SugarHouse Online, has opted for greener pastures by ending its sports betting partnership with Golden Nugget Casino and signing on with Monmouth Park.

SugarHouse Sportsbook customers should notice nothing different except now they’ll be able to bet on NBA games. SugarHouse Casino will remain with Golden Nugget.

EGR Global reported that SugarHouse made the move because NJ regulations prohibit anyone with an interest in a sport from taking wagers on that same sport. With Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta also owning the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Golden Nugget is precluded from offering NBA betting both in-person and through any of its licensed betting sites.

Why SugarHouse Sportsbook Left Golden Nugget

The short answer is SugarHouse Sportsbook was unable to offer wagers on NBA under the Golden Nugget license. Changing its association to Monmouth Park allows SugarHouse to offer NBA markets now – especially important as the NBA season gets underway for the first time since NJ legalized sports betting.

For a more detailed answer, some context is needed. New Jersey gaming laws require all betting sites to operate on an online gaming license held by one of the state’s land-based casinos. Prior to this week, SugarHouse Sportsbook was partnered with Golden Nugget AC to meet NJ licensing requirements.

The partnership with Golden Nugget was normal in all respects except one key issue: the Golden Nugget is prohibited from taking wagers on NBA games due to owner Tilman Fertitta’s ownership of the Houston Rockets.

NJ sports betting regulations prohibit any person or entity with a 10% or greater interest in a sports team or league from accepting wagers on games governed by that sport. Because Tilman Fertitta owns the Houston Rockets, his casino is unable to take wagers on any NBA game.

This prohibition extends to any betting sites associated with the Golden Nugget. Thus, SugarHouse Sportsbook was precluded from hosting any NBA betting markets due to its association with Golden Nugget.

The Impact on Golden Nugget in New Jersey

We haven’t yet seen a full season of basketball betting in New Jersey, but we can extrapolate some numbers from Nevada to get a rough idea of how much basketball contributes to the bottom line for the average sportsbook.

Last year, Nevada sportsbooks booked a total of $4.8 billion in wagers for revenue of $248.7 million. Of this amount, college and pro basketball betting accounted for $1.4 billion in handle and $87.4 million in revenue. That means in all, basketball betting accounted for 29% of total handle and 35% of total sports betting revenue for Nevada sportsbooks.

Those numbers do not break down betting revenue between NBA and college games, but EGR Global stated yesterday that NBA betting accounted for about 15% of Nevada’s total handle last year.

Nevada and New Jersey are markedly different markets, but if we use those as a rough guideline and just go with 15% as the number, SugarHouse Sportsbook stood to miss out on 15% of its potential due to being associated with Golden Nugget.

Golden Nugget stands to miss out on even more revenue just as the 2018/19 NBA season gets underway. Not only will Golden Nugget continue to miss out on NBA wagering, it will now miss out on all mobile sports betting with SugarHouse leaving for Monmouth Park.

September was the first full month of sports betting for Golden Nugget, and during that time the casino achieved gross revenue of $499,414 from in-person wagering and $619,030 from online wagering via SugarHouse.

If those numbers serve as any sort of indicator of future wagering action, Golden Nugget stands to miss out on more than half of its combined sports betting revenue between wagers placed in-person and online until it can find a new online betting partner.