NY Reports Sports Betting Handle of US$1B in September

After a summer of low volume, New York State’s mobile sports wagering market has now started to recover in September with the return of the NFL. Just recently, the New York State Gaming Commission informed that for last month, the nine digital sportsbooks generated a total handle of more than US$1 billion. In addition to that, there’s also a record for revenue.

New Yorkers have been able to wager legally online on sports events since January 8, 2022, when the Empire State kicked off its new digital market. A total of nine sportsbooks have been allowed to operate in the sector, and since the start and in less than a year the local market has already surpassed US$10 billion in total wagering handle.

Handle Recovers in September

After a summer of relatively low betting volume and two months in a row of a monthly handle of US$800 million, the Empire State’s market has once more surpassed US$1 billion in online volume. In September handle hit US$1.25 billion, which is a significant improvement from the August one, when total bets amassed by the nine operators were just US$872.2 million.

It should be mentioned that in September, sportsbooks recorded an 11.4% hold of the total handle, which interestingly enough is identical to the hold from August. Meanwhile, gross gaming revenue in September hit US$143.3 million, which is a massive upgrade on August’s US$99.6 million. The September GGR is now the record one for the market, overtaking January’s highs.

There were no surprises in terms of operators’ performances, as once more FanDuel led the market with the highest handle for the month. The sportsbook handled US$499.8 million of the total online wagers and net revenue of US$31.2 million. Meanwhile, DraftKings came again second with a handle of US$422.2 million, and net proceeds of US$21.9 million. The two apps took a 73% share of the market.

In the third spot for September was Caesars Sportsbook which was the third operator to generate just over US$100 in total wagers. The company finished the month with US$163.1 million. Meanwhile, Bally Bet, the last operator to go live in the market, sat with a handle of just US$1.2 million and net revenue of US$70,931.

Starting Off Strong

The start of the NFL season saw huge interest from Empire State bettors. According to GeoComply, which conducts geolocation services for many mobile sportsbooks in the state, more than 103 million geolocation checks were conducted in the country for the first set of NFL games. However, over 15.7 million of those or 15.2% came from New York.
After the success of the internet sports betting market, New York legislators are also looking to add online casinos to the mix. The latter seems now to be a question of when and not if. State Sen. Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens who is a major supporter of the initiative, said he will push forward for the legalization of iGaming in the 2023 state budget.

Source: Matthew, Ethan “New York Sports Betting: Over $1 Billion in Wagers Made in September” Covers, October 7, 2022