The Louisiana State Police reported sports betting revenue of $6.1 million for the month of April, a drop of over 80% compared to March as the public bounced back from a rough prior month of basketball wagering in strong fashion.
The overall handle from the state’s seven mobile operators and 15 retail sportsbooks totaled $208.2 million, 10.5% lower than March’s $232.7 million. But the win rate for April, based on gross revenue, was just shy of 3%, over 10 full percentage points lower than March’s 13.3% hold, resulting in the sharp decline in revenue. The adjusted gross revenue was $5.6 million.
Even with the dramatic falloff, state tax coffers still received close to $2.6 million in receipts for April, lifting the overall total since launch last November to more than $9.7 million. Online operators were again judicious about promotional credits, doling out $533,415 worth in April — the lowest total since mobile wagering began in January.
Each operator is limited to $5 million in promotional credits annually, and while the Louisiana State Police does not break out handle and revenue by operator, the overall total claimed to date is slightly more than $23 million. That leaves just under $12 million still available for current operators accepting wagers.
A big loss in basketball
April #SportsBetting numbers for #Louisiana, via LSP. Rankings out of 6 months in parentheses.
Handle: $208,255,060 (4)
GGR: $6,140,843 (4)
GGR Win Rate: 2.95% (6)
AGR: $5,607,428 (4)
AGR Win Rate: 2.69% (5)
Promo/Ded: $533,415
Taxes: $2,370,9321/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) May 16, 2022
The LSP only provides revenue figures for select sports, but based on those available numbers, it appears that plenty of basketball bettors rode Kansas to the NCAA Tournament title in the early part of April while the Final Four was held in New Orleans or were able to figure out the inconsistent Pelicans for the stretch run of the NBA season and first round of the playoffs.
Revenue from basketball wagering swung $24.7 million downward month over month, as operators went from claiming $12.8 million in winnings in March to paying out nearly $11.9 million more than wagers accepted in April.
Offsetting that crunching loss was operator revenue from parlay bets, which totaled an all-time high of nearly $14.8 million in reaching eight figures for the second consecutive month.
The house also did well in baseball, where the $1.6 million in winnings was the second-highest total of the six categories provided.
Brick-and-mortar operators fared far better than their mobile counterparts overall, posting a 10.5% hold on $22.2 million wagered in April, with more than half the $2.3 million in revenue generated originating from parlay wagers. The mobile hold was 2.1%, with $186 million wagered online.
In the other categories provided for revenue, operators came out close to $600,000 ahead in the catch-all “other” category that includes hockey, golf, and MMA among other sports and claimed just shy of $490,000 in winnings from soccer wagers. Football futures wagering was light as operators finished $20,008 ahead for the month.
