New York’s sports wagering revenue saw a decline in February, largely due to the state’s lack of full slate of football. Combined with Super Bowl week, during which BetMGM reported a loss of $9.6m on the Big Game, it’s not surprising that the joint income of the state’s 9 sportsbooks was their lowest monthly income from last August.
The lowest revenue since the beginning of the football season:
Last month, the New York Gaming Commission (NYGC) revealed that the state’s sports wagering income reached $131.4m, which represents the 1st month in which income was under $150m since the official start of the football season.
As for sports betting handle in particular, it was the lowest from September last year and saw a decrease of 37.9% on a monthly basis. However, it experienced an increase of 21.7% on an annual basis in a market that has lost 4 successive months of handles of more than $1.9bln.
As for the hold of 7.4%, it was the 1st win rate below 9% from November last year, but was in range with the hold achieved during February last year. And finally, in terms of tax income, it fell from $107.9m in the first month of 2024 to $67m in February.
Major online sport wagering operators regarding sports betting handle during February:
Then there is the aforementioned Super Bowl loss, which saw BetMGM accumulate gross income of only $580,224 on $129.7m handle. What’s more, it represents the 1st time that an online bookie has collected income below 7 figures.
Relatedly, the best 2 bookies together accounted for 72% of the total handle for sports wagering in the state. Additionally, FanDuel led the way with $720.1 million in bets accepted during the month, a decrease of 17% compared to January. As for operator’s income, it was $63.4m, a decrease of 42% on a monthly basis and the lowest from August last year.
After FanDuel comes DraftKings, which officially took second place in the state, with a handle of $607.9m, which represents a decrease of 8.6% since January, in addition to income of $53.4m. Then comes Caesars, which accumulated more in sports betting income than BetMGM, and its handle was $162.2m but a hold was only 4.2%.
And lastly, the fifth place belongs to Rush Street Interactive, whose handle amounted to $46.9m.
A promising start to March:
The last several days of February and the beginning of March indicated that there is a chance for a positive turnaround. In this regard, the state disclosed a handle of $456.1m for the entire week that ended on March 3rd, although March Madness hasn’t even begun yet.
The sum wagered saw an increase of 10.2% compared to the former week, and the income increased by 7.8% to $40.1m, the biggest of the month. In addition, the 8.8% hold represented a slight decline from the former week’s 9%.
Furthermore, PointsBet, which reported a loss of $8m a week earlier, wasn’t involved in the figures from March 3. The situation was the same with Fanatics Sportsbook, which debuted in New York on February 29 and took ownership of the PointsBet platform in the state.
Relatedly, the newest handle experienced an increase of 11% from the week last year and topped the $400m mark for the twentieth time in the last 21 weeks. As for the income, it saw an increase of 55.4% on an annual basis.
Decline in income:
Although FanDuel experienced a jump of 16.9% in handle compared to the former week to the $184m, its revenue decreased to $14.8m from $21m. Then, there is DraftKings, which it had the second-biggest handle of $155.2m, also saw its revenue drop from the previous week’s $15.2m to $10.2m in the time frame which ended on March 3rd, according to Covers.com.
As for the rest of the New York sportsbooks, they saw nearly identical results when it came to lower incomes and high handles. In that sense, Caesars took in $42.8m in wagers, the most in 3 weeks, but income fell thanks to a 4.4% hold. Next up, BetMGM saw an almost $3m week-over-week handle with $27.8m, although income fell from over $2m to $1.5m.
And finally, there is WynnBet who reported nearly $60.000 on a $1.5m handle, while BallyBet made just $297 on a handle of almost $124.000.
