Call it the sports betting handle record that never was.
Due to accounting rules marking the end of the fiscal calendar year, the Empire State missed out on setting a national monthly handle record for March according to figures released Monday by the New York State Gaming Commission.
Technically, the NYSGC reported $1.85 million handle for March, which is the fifth-highest total in 27 months since sports betting apps became available in New York. Those figures, however, do not include the final week of wagering that covered March 25-31, when the state’s nine mobile sportsbooks accepted $456.4 million worth of wagers.
Because the revenue from that week of betting was accepted by the state in April, the handle and revenue figures for that week are technically part of Fiscal Year 2024-25 and will be included in April’s figures. Had they been included for March, the $2.31 billion handle would have smashed New York’s previous record of $2.12 billion set last November and marked the fourth time it topped $2 billion.
Additionally, the $194.4 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for March would have ranked second in Empire State history and third overall nationally. Operator winnings for March instead totaled $152.6 million, still good for seventh in state history despite a downward adjustment of $1.1 million from Caesars Sportsbook‘s figures.
The state received $76.4 million in taxes for March, keeping New York on pace to raise $1 billion in receipts for the calendar year. The Empire State, which has generated $1.81 billion in state taxes from sports betting, also joined neighboring New Jersey as the only states to surpass $40 billion in all-time handle.
Year-over-year handle still grows
Running MARCH Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:
1 New York $1.85B
2 Iowa $272.4M
3 Oregon $69.4M
4 Montana $6.59M
5 TBD
6 TBD
7 TBD
8 TBD
9 TBD
10 TBD#SportsBettingX #GamblingX— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) April 8, 2024
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Despite that final week missing from March’s numbers, year-over-year handle still increased by a more modest 3.4%. Revenue dipped 6.7% as the 8.2% win rate was down nearly nine-tenths of a percentage point compared to March 2023.
FanDuel paced the group of nine mobile books, collecting $73.1 million in revenue from $781.2 million handle and attaining a 9.4% hold. It was the fourth time in the last six months FanDuel failed to notch a doube-digit win rate, but it was the sixth consecutive month it had a 40% share of mobile handle and seventh straight month it accounted for at least 45% of the digital revenue.
DraftKings was narrowly thwarted in its bid to have four straight months with an 8% or higher hold for the first time in New York, coming up just short while claiming $48.8 million in winnings from $612.2 million worth of bets.
Caesars doubled its revenue from February to $13.6 million thanks to a 7.2% win rate against $189.4 million handle. It also notched a 10% market share of mobile handle for the second time in 2024 after failing to do so the final four months of last year and recording an all-time low of 9.1% in February.
BetMGM had a strong bounce back from a disastrous February as month-over-month revenue was more than 13 times higher to $7.8 million. It had a 6.2% hold from $125.9 million worth of wagers, the fourth time in five months it topped $120 million worth of action.
BetRivers had a 32.7% year-over-year increase in handle to $66.2 million, giving it a 3.6% market share, but revenue slacked 6.4% to $3.3 million. Its 5.1% hold was more than two full percentage points lower compared to March 2023 and marked the fifth time in the last six months BetRivers failed to match the 7% industry standard.
Fanatics Sportsbook reported $53.2 million worth of wagers for March in its first month of action, up 83.9% from 12 months prior when PointsBet was the licensee, but that figure also was down 35.8% from February’s record $82.9 million handle.
Revenue, however, more than doubled from March 2023 to $3.8 million, which was also up 29.7% from February. Fanatics crafted a 7.1% hold for March, just over double the 3.5% mark from the previous month.
Checking out the bottom third
The accounting rules cost Bally Bet its first month with an eight-figure handle as it reported $8.3 million worth of wagers for the first 24 days of March. Revenue was up 28.6% from 2023, but it was barely more than one-third of its record $724,041 claimed in February.
Resorts World topped $700,000 in winnings for the second time in three months, and its $2 million in winnings for the first quarter of 2024 is nearly half its $4.5 million haul for all of 2023. Resorts World had an 8.5% hold on $8.4 million worth of wagers as year-over-year action increased 63.6%.
WynnBET continues to play out the string as its parent company finalizes a $25 million deal to sell its New York mobile licenses to PENN Entertainment. The $4.2 million handle was down 59.4% compared to 12 months prior, while the $285,923 in revenue was 55.3% lower.
A solid month for the brick-and-mortars
New York’s four commercial retail sportsbooks had their best month of 2024 with $874,279 in winnings, a positive swing of $986,054 after paying out $111,775 on top of a $5.8 million handle. The quartet accepted $5.6 million worth of bets, and their combined 15.6% hold was its best since fashioning a 19.3% win rate in September 2022.
Tioga Downs was able to wipe out its $174,000-plus deficit from January and February, winning $225,533 in March while posting an eye-watering 38% hold on $593,172 handle. Resorts World’s brick-and-mortar book nearly got back to even after winning $94,798 to reduce its deficit for the year to $20,719.
All four books posted holds of 12% or higher, the first time that occurred since September 2022 when they won $1.7 million and notched a 19.3% win rate from a $8.8 million handle.
