The Kansas Lottery reported on Wednesday sports wagering handle of $182 million for December, the third consecutive month the Sunflower State finished between $180 million and $190 million.
The figure was a 2.3% dip compared to the $186.3 million in wagers accepted in November. Kansas finished the calendar year at $718.8 million in accepted wagers since launching in September, with more than 95% of that handle coming via online and mobile betting.
Bettors showed some improvement in the final month of the year, as the 9.3% win rate on gross revenue was the lowest of the four months. Operators reported $16.8 million in gross revenue, down 11.7% from November as the hold shed nearly one full percentage point.
The state was eligible to tax $10.3 million in adjusted revenue for the month, but when counting losses and carryover permitted to operators from previous months, that total shrunk to $9.6 million. Still, there was enough to post the first monthly $1 million tax bill as the overall total since launch nearly doubled to just shy of $2.1 million.
BetMGM surprise leader in promotional spend
December #SportsBetting 🧵for #Kansas via @Kansas_Lottery. Mobile Han/Rev/WR by operator (2/2)@CaesarsSports $9.58M/$817.6K/8.54%@PointsBetUSA $2.95M/$119.3K/4.05%@BetMGM $25.5M/$1.99M/7.82%
6/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 11, 2023
Overall promotional spend in December among the state’s six mobile operators ticked slightly higher to $6.8 million, and it was BetMGM that had the biggest outlay at more than $2.6 million. No other operator reached $2 million in promotional credits and bonuses, with FanDuel a distant second at $1.9 million. The strategy does appear to have provided some benefits for BetMGM, which was a strong third in handle at $25.5 million.
The aggressive play, though, also means BetMGM has been working with a negative net AGR from the jump and has yet to make a tax payment. Despite posting nearly $2 million in gross revenue for December, its adjusted revenue for the month was $675,000 in the red, pushing its overall total to minus-$2.7 million.
DraftKings led in handle and revenue in convincing fashion, with its 11.7% win rate leading to $7.6 million from $65.1 million handle. The Massachusetts-based book has cleared $7 million in gross revenue in each of the four months of action while posting a minimum hold of 9.2% each month.
FanDuel was brought down a peg by Sunflower State bettors, limited to a 7.9% hold that was nearly six percentage points lower compared to November and the sportsbook’s first in single digits. It did have an all-time high in handle at $54.3 million, leading to $4.3 million in gross revenue.
The stratification of handle by mobile operator has hardened significantly as Barstool Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, and PointsBet ranked fourth through sixth, respectively, once more. Barstool is the only other book to reach eight figures in handle in Kansas, accepting a record $13.8 million in wagers, though Caesars again flirted with the mark by coming within $400,000 of $10 million for the second straight month.
Both had holds just over 8.5% for December as Barstool claimed $1.2 million in gross revenue and Caesars $820,000. PointsBet’s gross revenue of $120,000 was nearly matched by its promotional spend of $114,000, which, along with other deductions, resulted in an overall slight loss in adjusted revenue.
Hollywood Kansas continues to dominate retail
Runnning Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state for December:
1 New York $1.63B
2 Maryland $497.1M
3 Iowa $229.9M
4 KANSAS ~$182M <-NEW
5 West Virginia ~$66M
6 OREGON $53.8M <-NEW
7 Delaware $8.2M
8 Montana $7.2M
9 TBD
10 TBD#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 11, 2023
Retail wagering at the three locations currently in action totaled $10.8 million handle, and the overwhelming majority of it originated at Hollywood Kansas. The Barstool-powered brick-and-mortar book accepted $8.5 million in bets for December — another month-over-month rise after barely more than half that in September — but finished with just $440,000 in revenue as its win rate plummeted more than six percentage points to 5.2%.
Kansas Star narrowly missed back-to-back months with $2 million handle, finishing about $40,000 short, but it was a much better month than November, with an 18.5% hold resulting in $360,000 in revenue. Boot Hill also had a double-digit hold at 10.1%, keeping more than $30,000 from close to $300,000 bet.
