Sportsbooks in the Big Easy had a (relatively) hard go of it in August, as a sharp drop in parlay revenue contributed to a steep decline in overall revenue, according to figures released Friday by the Louisiana State Police, which tracks sports wagering figures.
The state’s 17 retail sportsbooks and seven mobile operators claimed $9.7 million in gross revenue, less than half the $20.7 million amassed in July. The 7.6% win rate for August was nearly 10 full percentage points lower than the previous month. Handle rose 8.4% to $128.3 million, with $112 million wagered via mobile and online devices.
The August hold was the second-lowest in 10 months of sports wagering in the Pelican State, better than only the 3% win rate in April. Mobile operators remained stingy with promotional credits prior to the start of the NFL season, giving out $255,000 in such play. The promotional blitz that started the year — the online sportsbooks lavished more than $21.7 million in promotional credits to the betting public at first — has slowed to a trickle with less than $2.3 million over the last six months.
The state was able to levy taxes on $9.5 million in adjusted revenue for August, claiming $1.8 million in tax receipts. Louisiana’s coffers have received $17.1 million in tax revenue through the first eight months of the year and $18.1 million since launch the final weekend of October.
Where did the parlay revenue go?
August #SportsBetting numbers for #Louisiana via DSP, a 🧵. GGR by category
⚾️: $1.48M
🏀: $479.2K
🏈: $3.72M*
⚽️: $317.6K
💸 (parlay): ~$2M
🤷♂️ (other): $1.47M*-football futures count as revenue.
3/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) September 16, 2022
The Louisiana State Police only provide revenue by select categories, so it is impossible to determine how much better the public fared wagering on parlays, but the 84.5% drop in month-over-month revenue to just shy of $2 million from such wagers resulted in the second-lowest monthly figure in 10 months of wagering. The house lost more than $930,000 on parlays to start 2022, but recouped that with plenty of gusto as the $66.4 million parlay revenue overall represents 47.8% of sportsbook gross revenue for the year.
The primary source of revenue by category in August was football with $3.7 million, but that comes with the caveat that most of that revenue likely came from futures wagers people bet before the start of the college football and NFL seasons. Baseball netted operators $1.5 million in gross revenue, edging out the catch-all “other” category, which includes golf, tennis, and boxing/MMA wagering.
The Louisiana State Police do not disclose handle and revenue by operator or retail sportsbook.
