Still one day left to count
As expected, New York has become the largest sports betting state in the country. What was a bit of a surprise, though, was how quickly it happened. According to the New York State Gaming Commission, mobile sportsbooks generated $1.625bn in handle for the month, producing gross gaming revenue of $113m.
not only has New York topped the nation immediately, it did it in just three weeks
Those numbers are through January 30, so there is still one more day’s worth of revenue reports to come. And the first mobile sportsbooks only just launched on January 8, so not only has New York topped the nation immediately, it did it in just three weeks.
With New York’s steep 51% tax rate on gross gaming revenue, the state raked in an astounding $57.6m in taxes.
New York State Sen. Joe Addabbo, one of the champions of online gambling in the state for years, expressed a mix of excitement about the quick success and disappointment that took until 2022 to happen. “Think about where we could’ve been two years ago,” he told PlayNY. “To watch all the money being siphoned out of New York and into New Jersey and Pennsylvania and illegally, and you’re like we could stop this, we could leapfrog over these people. We have that potential.”
Caesars wins January, but FanDuel advancing
Caesars Sportsbook led the way for the month with $615.5m in handle and $55.9m in revenue, for a 9.1% hold (revenue divided by handle). FanDuel was second in handle with $501.8m, while DraftKings came in second in revenue at $27.1m.
Aside from brand recognition, part of the reason why Caesars was the New York market leader in January was because of a massive promo it offered to new customers. That promotion ended, likely allowing FanDuel to take the top spot in handle for the week of January 23-30. FanDuel pulled in $141.8m handle for the week, compared to $128.1m for Caesars. FanDuel’s revenue, however, was over half a million dollars to the negative on the week.
BetRivers was the most disappointing, coming in last in handle and second-last in revenue
January was driven by the top three – Caesars, FanDuel, and DraftKings – who combined for about 83% of New York’s handle. The other three – BetMGM, PointsBet, and BetRivers – made up the other 17%. BetRivers was the most disappointing, coming in last in handle and second-last in revenue, despite being one of the four mobile sportsbooks to launch on opening day along with the three leaders.
Super Bowl looms large
One would think that New York will stay at the top of the state rankings, based solely on the fact that it is the largest state in terms of population with legal online sports betting. Plus, as mentioned, the January numbers aren’t even for a full month and just four of the online sportsbooks have been live since day one. BetMGM went live on January 17 and PointsBet launched January 24.
WynnBET just launched on Thursday, February 3, so it obviously did not have any January handle or revenue. Resorts World Bet and Bally Bet still have mobile betting products on the way; Resorts plans to launch as soon as it can, while Bally Bet isn’t going live until April.
The big day is still to come: the Super Bowl on February 13. Nevada has the current Super Bowl handle record at $158.6m in 2018. PlayUSA predicts that both Nevada and New York will break that record, but that Nevada will take the top honor, $175m to $160m.