The New York State Gaming Commission reported Tuesday that sportsbooks claimed $108.2 million in sports wagering revenue for February, with a strong performance by the betting public creating a notable month-over-month decline in operator winnings.
It was the sixth consecutive month revenue reached nine figures in New York, but it marked the lowest amount since Empire State operators claimed $99.2 million last August. The public fared well in Super Bowl LVII wagering, limiting the house to $1.4 million kept from $100.5 million worth of bets placed on the NFL’s marquee event.
The house claimed at least $140 million in total revenue in each of the previous five months, with January’s $149.4 million the high point. February’s figure was 27.6% lower compared to January but 32% better than February 2022, when operators claimed $82.4 million.
Handle was also down notably, sliding 18.1% from January’s record of $1.8 billion to $1.47 billion, with a hold of nearly 7.4%. Despite the decline, it is still the eighth-highest monthly handle nationally in the post-PASPA era and put New York within $76 million of becoming the third state to clear $20 billion.
The state collected $55.3 million in tax receipts for February, lifting the overall total for the year to $131.5 million. Revenue through the first two months of the year is $258.4 million, 25.4% higher than the same period in 2022 despite handle increasing only 1.7% to $3.3 billion. Tax revenue is already running $26.1 million ahead of 2022, when the Empire State set a national record with $693.9 million.
FanDuel has an off month (by its standards)
All-time Top 10 #SportsBetting handles post-PASPA (Feb in CAPS)
1 New Jersey $34.8B
2 Nevada $30.4B
3 NEW YORK $19.9B4 Illinois $19.73B <-NEW
5 Pennsylvania $19.66B
6 INDIANA $11.3B
7 Colorado $10.8B
8 Michigan $9.4B
9 Virginia $8.7B
10 Arizona (Dec) $7.8B#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) March 14, 2023
Still the unquestioned leader in the New York mobile sports wagering marketplace, FanDuel maintained at least a 40% market share for handle for the fourth straight month by accepting $591 million in wagers in February. But it was also the first time in eight months the online titan failed to post a double-digit win rate, as the 9.1% hold was its lowest since landing at 8.4% in June.
FanDuel led all mobile operators in Super Bowl revenue with nearly $764,000, but its hold was a paltry 1.8% from $42.8 million handle. FanDuel did account for nearly half the overall online revenue in February at $53.5 million, lifting its all-time total in the Empire State to $786 million.
DraftKings was a strong yet distant No. 2 to its eternal rival in both handle and revenue, with $491.3 million in the former and $33.5 million in the latter, even with losing close to $338,000 on the Super Bowl. The soft month for operators, though, meant DraftKings accounted for 31% of online revenue in February, up more than 4 percentage points from January.
Caesars Sportsbook claimed the final podium spots in both handle ($192.8 million) and revenue ($8.5 million), but its 4.4% win rate was the lowest of any operator that had an eight-figure handle. It finished second in Super Bowl revenue with nearly $335,000, but it had just a 1.7% win rate.
BetMGM was the fourth and final operator to reach nine figures in February handle at $107.7 million. Its overall 7% hold — 2.9% for the Super Bowl — was strong compared to its peers for February and resulted in more than $7.5 million in revenue.
BetRivers and PointsBet were the only other operators to clear at least $1 million in revenue, with the former going over $2.4 million and the Aussie-based book reporting nearly $1.9 million.
Resorts World edged out WynnBET for the No. 7 spot in revenue despite having barely more than half of WynnBET’s $10.3 million handle, with a 9% hold that resulted in close to $485,000. WynnBET had a 4.6% win rate and narrowly topped $470,000.
Bally Bet was last in both handle and revenue, though its $1.2 million handle was its highest since accepting close to $1.5 million worth of wagers in October. It finished with $18,451 in revenue, its second-lowest total in eight months of activity. Bally Bet also paid out $2,427 on top of its $19,932 in accepted Super Bowl bets.
Another tough month on the retail side
Two of the state’s four commercial sportsbooks — Resorts World and Tioga Downs — posted monthly losses in February, with Resorts World taking an “L” for the second straight month. It is now down more than $76,000 in 2023 after paying out close to $43,000 on top of the nearly $1.2 million in accepted bets for February.
Tioga Downs’ loss of more than $45,000 was its second monthly loss in the last three, and the minus 8.1% hold was the worst of any of the four brick-and-mortar sportsbooks since del Lago had a negative 12.1% win rate last June.
Rivers Casino and del Lago had modest gains in February — both had holds below 6% — as the four books generated just under $190,000 in combined revenue from $7.3 million handle for a 2.6% hold. That was still an improvement compared to February 2022, when the quartet paid out more than $242,000 above their $6.5 million handle.
