NY’s Mobile Sports Betting Handle Spirals Down

New York’s mobile sports betting does not enjoy its best weeks, as once again the state reports a new weekly low on handle. On Friday, the New York State Gaming Commission released its latest weekly report on the online market, according to which, for the week that ended on July 10, 2022, the nine operators have handled US$190.2 million in online wagers.

Despite its infant age after opening up in January this year, the Empire State’s mobile sports betting market has quickly transformed into one of the largest regulated ones in the country. A total of nine gaming operators are allowed to take part in the legal market. However, in recent weeks volume has gone down as there are not many sports events for locals to wager on.

Weekly Hits New Low

On Friday, the New York State Gaming Commission issued its latest weekly report which confirmed a new weekly low on the online handle with US$190.2 million among the nine operators. This amount was generated by local bettors for the week that concluded on July 10, 2022, and this is the lowest weekly volume for a seven-day week since the launch of the market.

The Empire State’s weekly handle has been in a downtrend for quite some time now, but this is due to the fact that there are not many sporting events to wager on in the summer season. But despite the lower wagering volume, the nine bookmakers seem to be doing relatively well despite the 51% tax rate on revenue by the state.

Reports confirm that for the week that ended on July 10, 2022, gross gaming revenue has reached US$27 million, which translates to over 14.2% hold for the locally licensed mobile operators. However, the said week’s results were an improvement over the week prior to that in terms of GGR, which had a US$20.2 million handle and 9.5% return.

Once again for the week of July 10, 2022, FanDuel has topped the charts in terms of handle as collected US$80.2 million of the wagers. While also generating US$13.8 in revenue. DraftKings was second in handle with a total of US$52.1 million and US$6.1 million in proceeds. The two sportsbooks dominated the weekly, as their handle claimed 42.2% of the total one.

Another highlight from the July 10 week, was that the ninth and final operator – Bally Bet which after months of waiting has made its unofficial debut in the market. However, it must be mentioned that the operator had a relatively quiet start to its New York operations as it accumulated only US$67,941 in online wagers and thus generating US$17,052 in gross gaming revenue.

Major Milestone for the State

At the start of this month, Governor Kathy Hochul’s office announced that the Empire State’s mobile sports betting market has reached another important milestone. According to the press release, in less than six months, the state’s model has generated over US$300 million in tax revenue for the local budget, which will now be reinvested into education, youth sports, and problem gambling prevention and more.

Source: Zochodne, Geoff “Online Sports Betting in New York Keeps Shrinking as Weekly Wagering Slips Below $200M”, Covers, July 15, 2022