Bettors in the Big Easy, bayou, and beyond in Louisiana welcomed mobile sports wagering with a flourish, averaging more than $10 million daily handle in the first four days of betting.
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board reported more than $40 million wagered for the four-day period covering Jan. 28-31, with six operators — Caesars, FanDuel, Barstool, DraftKings, BetRivers, and BetMGM — accepting online wagers.
Combined with the retail handle for the entire month, the LGCB reported more than $89.7 million in January bets as the number of retail sportsbooks also climbed from eight in December to 13 for the first month of 2022. Including the two months of retail-only wagering since launching in November, Louisiana has generated nearly $157 million handle.
Mississippi pays price for punting on mobile sports betting as it's the only state so far reporting decline in Super Bowl betting @tbattdc reports. Louisiana may be on verge of becoming top gaming state in Deep South @GamblingComp https://t.co/WplZsPXhlS pic.twitter.com/y9wN5eZZys
— Chris Sieroty (@sierotyfeatures) February 16, 2022
As mobile operators came charging out of the gate with plenty of promotional offers, bettors were quick to snap them up, with a good portion being allocated to football wagering as Louisiana adopted the Cincinnati Bengals — led offensively by former LSU standouts Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase — during their run to Super Bowl LVI.
Further revenue details
Promotional payouts were a whopping $11.7 million. When combining retail and mobile wagering, but not counting the promos, there was slightly more than $8 million in gross revenue, which translated to an 8.9% win rate for the sportsbooks. When factoring in the promotional payouts, the hold swung to -4.1%. So there was nothing to tax at the state’s 15% rate for mobile gross revenue.
Retail operators did salvage some tax receipts for the state, providing $533,289 after operators claimed more than $5.3 million in revenue from $49.3 million wagered and posted a 10.8% win rate.
Mobile operators lost close to $3.3 million in adjusted revenue on football-based bets, the largest loss of any category provided by the gaming control board. Seven-figure adjusted revenue losses were also reported in parlay wagers ($1.6 million) and basketball ($1.3 million) on the digital side. The losses on the former provided a near-45% haircut off the retail parlay revenue, dropping the overall parlay total revenue to $1.9 million for the sportsbooks, while losses in basketball swung that sport into the red for the month with an overall loss of nearly $1 million.
Louisiana’s handle pushed the national amount over $6 billion for January, with several states yet to report. The Creole State also became the 12th state so far to post an all-time monthly high for handle in January.
