The Empire State becomes the third US jurisdiction to bring in a lifetime handle of $25 billion, reaching the milestone faster than any other state. Here’s a deeper dive into the numbers and how the market has been fairing for the last 16 months.
The New York sports betting scene is hitting new highs as the months go by. The latest feather in its cap is smashing the $25 billion handle mark in a record time of just 16 months, according to the figures released by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC). The previously held record for the fastest time to reach this figure was held by New Jersey, which took about 47 months to crush the milestone.
So, the Empire State is now one of the only three US jurisdictions, along with the Garden State and the Silver State, that have ever broken clear of the $25 Billion barrier. Suffice it to say, it’s no mean fete to achieve such an achievement, and it may take quite some time before we see another state cross the watershed. And from the look of things, NY could soon surpass NJ’s lifetime handle of about $38 billion, despite the latter having been in operation since 2018.
Over the 25 months that New York’s sports wagering scene has been in operation, the market has generated a whopping $983.5 million in taxes for state coffers. This colossal payout for the Empire State is all thanks to its 51% taxation rate imposed on adjusted gross gaming revenue (GGR), the highest levy on sports wagering nationwide.
DraftKings and FanDuel Continue Fighting for Top Spot
The sports wagering market in New York is booming, which is great for the operators licensed to serve sports fans in the state. At the forefront of the sports wagering operations in the Empire State are industry giants FanDuel and DraftKings. FanDuel had held the top spot for an impressive 74 weeks before DraftKings took over the leaderboard in June.
Looking at the numbers for the week ending June 25th, DraftKings processed over $124.4 million in wagers, surpassing the $86.6 million sports fans wagered on FanDuel. With the figures, FanDuel forfeited a nearly 10-month winning streak of bringing in a weekly handle of more than $100 million. Meanwhile, DK netted $4 million in revenue for the week in question, whereas FD won bigger after reporting more than twice its rival’s revenue at $8.2 million.
At the third spot in the week ending June 25th, Caesars Sportsbook held down its position as the best among the rest in NY’s sports betting scenery. The sportsbook recorded a handle of over $26.2 million, coupled with a reported revenue of $2 million. The other sportsbook operators in the Empire State performed as follows in the said week:
As things stand, the two bigwig operators are always neck to neck in competition for the lion’s share of New York sports wagering, collectively commanding around 75% of the market share. In the 2022 calendar year, FanDuel commanded a handle of about $6.6 billion, whereas DraftKings brought in $4.6 billion worth of sports wagers.
Even though DK and FD are the dominant forces, the possible entry of Fanatics following its recent acquisition of the US Division of Poinbet could provide stiffer competition to the two juggernauts at the top. Moreover, as the bigwigs compete for the top spot in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there is also news that Bally Bet will be suspending its operations in the state. Bally Bet is planning to incorporate new technology from Kambi, and the process is expected to take a couple of months before a gradual re-launch across the country.
Sports Betting Performance in the State So Far
Since the debut of online sports betting in NY last year, operators have generated more than $2 billion in revenue for state coffers – with the two biggest operators (DK and FD) cumulatively amassing $800 million. The income is welcome, mainly being that NY is one of the few US states whose sports betting revenue is earmarked for the education program, general fund, and responsible gambling program.
Alongside the impressive figures recorded over the 16 months, the numbers released for the week ending June 25th, 2023, indicate that the nine digital sportsbooks brought in $16. 3 million in revenue. This represents one of the lowest revenue weeks in 2023, with the only lower figure this year being the second week of April, which brought in $12 million in revenue. The total betting volume for the week also wasn’t quite impressive compared to other weeks in the year, bringing in $267.6 million, the lowest weekly record this calendar year.
Meanwhile, May’s overall handle of $1.35 billion was a dip of approximately 12% compared to April’s figures. That said, it is welcome that May’s revenue cleared the billion-dollar mark during what is traditionally known to be a quiet time when it comes to sports betting in the country – considering that it falls in the off-season for most major US Sports competitions. The state also recorded taxes to the tune of $77 million from sports betting operators in May, which is a 10% rise from what was garnered in April. Again, the tax scenery is rosy for the state, considering the Empire State has one of the highest sports betting taxes in the country at 51%.
All Eyes Are on The NFL and the Women’s World Cup
Q3 2023 is poised to be busy in the New York sports wagering scene, with the NFL 2023-24 season poised to kick off very soon. The NFL training camps are already being set up, and the league’s 32 teams are expected to report for practice by the end of this month. The New York NFL fanbase is currently buzzing as they’ll be having a sneak peek of their favorite NFL teams in action.
Of course, the teams that will receive the most attention from New Yorkers will probably be the Giants, the Jets, and the Buffalo Bills. The offseason has been quite friendly to all three, and it is expected that sports fans in the Empire State will put their money on the trio once the regular season springs to life.
The ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup is also projected to receive significant wagering action from NY sports fans. That’s because USA’s women’s soccer team, The Stars and The Stripes, is currently the most successful in international women’s soccer, having won nine CONCACAF Gold Cups and four Olympic gold medals. Better still, it has won four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles so far, the most that any team in the competition has won, and is the defending champion of the current tournament.
So, as you can expect, sports-wagering fans in New York are pretty pumped up for this soccer tournament. Most of them hope the USA women’s soccer team will emerge victorious for the second time running and bag their fifth trophy. Other favorites include England, Spain, Germany, and France, which all have potent teams coming into the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted in New Zealand and Australia.
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