It was a Bayou beatdown by sports wagering operators across Louisiana in May, as the house claimed nearly $25.7 million in winnings and posted a staggering 15% win rate for all wagers. This was according to the state police, which tracks such matters.
The downward cycle for handle continued, as $171.1 million was wagered for May, a 17.8% decline from April that was also the smallest amount wagered in a full month since mobile betting launched. But after heavy NCAA Tournament losses limited the house to barely more than $6.1 million in gross revenue, mobile sportsbook operators took the public to the woodshed, as they totaled just shy of $23 million in revenue from $142.6 million wagered, resulting in a 16.1% hold.
Louisiana’s overall win rate, dragged down by a still-healthy 9.5% hold on retail wagering, was the highest of any state in the post-PASPA era dating back to June 2018, when wagering became available on a state-by-state basis. New Jersey previously held the mark at 13% set in September 2018, doing so with nearly $184 million in bets placed.
| State | Month-Year | Sports Wagering Handle | Revenue (Gross or Adjusted) | Win Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | May-2022 | $171,135,819 | $25,691,602 (G) | 15.01% |
| New Jersey | Sept-2018 | $183,948,804 | $23,961,038 (A) | 13.03% |
| Virginia | July-2021 | $161,901,955 | $19,965,556 (G) | 12.33% |
| Michigan | Nov-2021 | $500,521,376 | $58,762,385 (G) | 11.74% |
| Pennsylvania | Nov-2021 | $761,574,597 | $84,921,963 (G) | 11.15% |
| Arizona | Sept-2021 | $291,212,868 | $31,630,740 (G) | 10.86% |
| Tennessee | June-2021 | $174,543,000 | $18,342,000 (G) | 10.51% |
| Indiana | June-2021 | $246,321,671 | $25,464,800 (A) | 10.34% |
| Illinois | July-2021 | $369,134,820 | $37,611,594 (A) | 10.19% |
| Nevada | Nov-2020 | $609,536,489 | $61,807,000 (A) | 10.14% |
Promotional play and deductions were light among Louisiana’s seven mobile operators, totaling slightly less than $365,000. That meant the state could levy taxes on more than $25.3 million of operator revenue, resulting in a $2.7 million windfall for state coffers. Louisiana has collected nearly $11.5 million in taxes through the first five months of 2022 and close to $12.5 million since launch in the final weekend of October.
Louisiana also became the 17th state to surpass $1 billion handle in the post-PASPA era, doing so in seven-plus months of operation.
The parlay train stops for no one
Though the Louisiana State Police does not provide handle by either operator, sport, or category, it does break such matters down for revenue. Here, parlays again proved to be the primary driver, reaching eight figures for the third straight month, as operators claimed more than $12.4 million in revenue from such wagers.
The biggest month-to-month swing, however, took place in basketball. With New Orleans serving as the site of the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four in April, operators paid out plenty of winning tickets on the University of Kansas. With fewer tickets to cash in college hoops, operators cleaned up on NBA wagering, as overall revenue for the category swung more than $17 million their way to put the house more than $5.1 million ahead for May.
Operators also fared far better in baseball in May than April, with revenue increasing more than three-fold to over $5.9 million. The lone area where the house lost ground was in soccer, as revenue there shrank from $489,405 in April to $151,530 in May. Revenue in the catch-all “other” category more than doubled to $1.3 million month-over-month.
Strong May nationwide for operators
Running 2022 #SportsBetting numbers thru Louisiana on June 16:
Handle: $36,877,650,360
GGR: $2,417,393,427
GGR Win Rate: 6.5552%
AGR: $1,984,853,966
AGR Win Rate: 5.3823%
Promos/Deductions: $432,539,461
Taxes: $511,761,127#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) June 16, 2022
The Pelican State currently has the highest win rate among the 13 states to have furnished figures for May. But five others have eclipsed 10%, and the lowest current hold belongs to Connecticut at 7.9%. The betting public had gotten the better of the house for most of the first four months of 2022, with the nationwide win rate just 6.3% on nearly $34 billion wagered.
Thanks in large part to taxable mobile wagering revenue from New York, state tax receipts in the U.S. have already exceeded $520 million in 2022, including more than $91 million already for May. State taxes from sports betting did not surpass half a billion dollars last year until November.
