New York narrowly extends billion-dollar sports wagering monthly handle streak

The New York State Gaming Commission reported sports wagering handle totaling nearly $1.06 billion for June, the lightest monthly amount since the Empire State launched mobile betting in January.

New York has comfortably been atop the national handle rankings every month of 2022, and June’s amount moved it ahead of Indiana into fifth place for all-time handle in the post-PASPA era behind New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. June’s handle represented a decline of 34.4% versus May, and the $3.7 billion wagered in the second quarter was 23.5% lower compared to the frenzied first three months of 2022. New York, which launched retail sports betting in 2019, is now less than $50 million shy of $9 billion, with more than $8.5 billion of that coming from online and mobile betting in the first six months of the year.

The overall operator revenue of $72.4 million for June was the lowest since mobile launched and just the second time this year it was less than $100 million. Still, the state collected just shy of $37 million in tax receipts for the month, and New York became the first to surpass $300 million in overall tax revenue among states with legalized commercial sports wagering.

Overall operator win rate for June was 6.9% as the state’s four retail sportsbooks barely came out ahead for the month. The quartet accounted for just $20,536 in revenue from close to $5.1 million wagered, for a 0.4% hold. Del Lago’s book finished nearly $182,000 in the red on $1.5 million bet, for a -12.1% hold.

FanDuel ekes out small handle market share gain

FanDuel, which surpassed $3 billion in online handle early in June, represented close to 45% of the month’s mobile handle with nearly $473 million worth of wagers. It accounted for more than half the overall mobile revenue for the fourth consecutive month, but the $39.6 million was also 38.1% lower than the $63.9 million claimed in May, as its hold plunged more than three percentage points to 8.4%.

DraftKings cleared the $2 billion plateau for handle with a market share for the month that climbed over 25% for the first time since March. Its 6.1% hold on $270.2 million handle resulted in revenue totaling $16.4 million, its softest month since launch and a 23.4% downturn from May.

Caesars had its first month of revenue below $10 million, finishing just shy of $6.3 million from $156.4 million in bets. Its win rate of 4% was an all-time low since launch and also marked the third consecutive month it was below 6%.

BetMGM had its run of nine-figure handles end at four months after accepting $92.4 million in bets. Its 20% decline in revenue to $6.3 million would have been worse had its hold not improved nearly one-half of a percentage point to 6.8%.

BetRivers had the smallest decline in terms of revenue percentage for June, with its $1.8 million in winnings only 0.5% lower compared to May and less than $9,000 in terms of dollars. Resorts World had a slight uptick in month-over-month handle to $6.8 million, but a 0.5% win rate meant it came out less than $33,000 ahead.

Del Lago nearly drags retail books into the red

After 24 months of finishing with positive revenue without a loss, del Lago paid out more than it took in for the third time in six months this year. Its monthly loss was barely off the all-time worst of $182,653 in February, and del Lago has less than $200,000 in revenue from more than $13 million wagered in 2022, resulting in a 1.5% hold.

The state’s other three commercial brick-and-mortar sportsbooks — Rivers, Tioga Downs, and Resorts World — came out slightly more than $200,000 ahead on close to $3.6 million wagered. Rivers accounted for more than two-thirds of that revenue total with more than $135,000, while Resorts World had the highest win rate of the group for June at 6.8%.

New York’s commercial retail sportsbooks posted a 2.4% hold for the first half of the year, claiming more than $1.1 million in revenue from more than $47 million wagered. As expected due to the mobile launch, retail handle is down 47.7% compared to the first six months of 2021. Revenue, though, has plunged nearly 90%, as the hold is more than 10 percentage points lower.

By Chris Altruda