ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- The Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey took in nearly $3.5 million in sports bets during its first nine days of accepting such bets.
And most of that came from two weekends that sandwiched a dead period for major professional sports caused by baseball's All-Star break, when there was little to bet on, with basketball over and the World Cup final on July 15, and football and hockey months away from beginning their seasons.
Meadowlands operator Jeff Gural told The Associated Press it accepted just under $3.5 million worth of sports bets since it began taking them on July 14.
"We did OK," Gural said Monday. "Our goal the first weekend was to exceed $1 million, which we did. The next four days were quiet with nothing to bet on due to the All-Star break."
This past Saturday, with baseball having resumed, the track took in more than $650,000, and additional bets on baseball and other sports came in on Sunday.
Gural said he is pleased with the track's initial performance "despite the fact that we are not at full strength and only have 10 live teller windows open."
The FanDuel Sportsbook at the Meadowlands will be expanded. It is located in East Rutherford, in the same sports complex (six miles from New York City) where the New York Giants and Jets play.
So far, two tracks, the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park, and two Atlantic City casinos, the Borgata and Ocean Resort, offer sports betting in New Jersey. But many others have applied for permission to begin offering sports betting, in person and online, before the start of the NFL season in September.
Monmouth and the casinos took in $16.4 million in the first two weeks of June.
New Jersey won a U.S. Supreme Court case on May 14 clearing the way for all 50 states to offer legal sports betting should they so desire. It began offering sports betting on June 14.
The latest statistics on how much the casinos and tracks took in from sports betting will be released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement on Aug. 14.