New Jersey Slot RTPs Changed in 2022. Here’s why!

RTP rates in payouts at the casinos across New Jersey

During the covid-19 pandemic, land-based US casinos took a hit and were closed for a long period in 2020. After opening, players have been worried about the return-to-player (RTP) rates at benchmark U.S. casinos. Have they changed? And if so, why? What are the changes?

It’s no secret that New Jersey is the gambling hub of the eastern part of the United States. There are nine casinos in Atlantic City alone. The casino industry suffered heavy losses because of their closures, stretching into billions of dollars. Players were rightfully concerned this would affect RTP rates in payouts at the casinos across New Jersey.

New Jersey Casino Industry Overview

The casino industry in New Jersey is massive, considering they have nine casinos in Atlantic City alone. Atlantic City is synonymous with gambling along the eastern side of the US and is considered the ‘Las Vegas’ of the East Coast. 

The State of New Jersey Casino Control Commission regulates casinos in New Jersey, including online casinos. The state’s Division of Gambling Enforcement ensures that all information regarding the casinos is available online with their Financial and Statistical Information. 

After re-opening, one casino changed hands in November 2020 from Bally’s to Premier, but Atlantic City still has nine casinos.

Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on New Jersey Casinos

All casinos in Atlantic City closed for April, May, and June in 2020 to prevent the spread of covid-19. As a result, these companies suffered heavy losses, as players weren’t gambling at their usually popular games such as card games, roulette tables, and progressive jackpot slots. 

Borgota casino stayed closed much longer and saw the largest financial losses of all casinos in Atlantic City. Once they all re-opened, the casinos were making money again, but it still wasn’t at the same as pre-covid levels. This is likely because not everyone felt comfortable going back to a casino environment straight away. 

When the world shut down, gamblers took to online casinos in droves, and the revenue of online casinos based in New Jersey doubled. So even though the companies were losing their physical customers, any casino that had an online presence was still doing well. People filled up poker rooms, flocked to online slots, wagered in all sorts of bonus games, and enjoyed the massive selection that online casinos offered.

New Jersey’s RTP Statistics in Slots

Whenever you’re considering playing a slot machine, you should look up the RTP. This refers to the Return to Player rate and is a percentage that represents how much money players can win back from the slot machine. As a result of regulation, NJ slot machines must have a minimum payout of 83%. But it’s quite common to see RTP payouts above 90% at all the top casinos.

New Jersey Slot RTP Changes

After they reopened from their covid-19 imposed closures, the casino's RTP rates in New Jersey did change. They varied from 89.3% - 92.3%. All the casinos in Atlantic City dropped their RTP. It wasn’t by much, but enough for them to get back a lot of the money they lost thanks to the period they were closed. 

In February 2020, Borgota’s RTP was 92%, and when they reopened from July-November 2020, it hovered at just above 91%. Admittedly, this isn’t a sizeable difference, and most players likely didn’t notice the change to RTP. On the other hand, some players did report slot machine’s being ‘tight,’ which only goes to show how important it is to know what a slot’s RTP is. Either way, over numerous players, casino’s changing their RTPs helped them recoup their money. Online casinos, on the other hand, continued to see more customers. Even in 2021, when everything was back open, online casinos reported a rise of 35% in their customer base, a number that is expected to increase further in 2022.

Looking Forward to the Rest of 2022

As of April 2022, the New Jersey casinos are back to their pre-covid revenue levels. Five casinos that month surpassed their April 2019 levels, showing that the effects of the pandemic are over in the casino industry.

In 2022, it does appear that both online casinos and land-based casinos are offering a higher RTP rate than they did during 2020 and 2021. Tropicana Casino & Resort is at the top, offering players an average RTP of 92.59%. Golden Nugget Casino is at 91.66%, and even Borgota, which had the greatest financial losses, is offering 91.89% to gamblers. 

So while they struggled throughout 2020, and this even carried through to 2021, it appears now mid-2022, the casino's RTP rates are high again. They might not be as high as pre-covid levels, but having over 90% RTP is still excellent for players looking to bet on slot games or poker in Atlantic City.

Conclusion

It’s apparent that in 2020 NJ casino game RTPs, including NJ slot RTPs, were changed by casinos in order to recoup some of the severe money losses they faced because of their closures for covid-19. Unfortunately, while the casinos started regaining revenue once they reopened, it wasn’t as high as their monthly income before covid-19. Not everyone was ready to go back to land-based casinos yet. 

After losing such a substantial amount of money, it's no surprise they lowered their RTP rates slightly to recoup their money. As a result, people were getting fewer returns for their money, but the difference was marginal for each player. However, that change hasn’t stayed. Now we are halfway through 2022, and it appears some casinos have raised their RTP rates to over 90% levels again. This is great news for casino enjoyers, who are now getting a better return for their money.