To quote former New York Yankees catcher and Hall of Famer Yogi Berra: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
The New York State Gaming Commission released retail sports wagering numbers for the month of January on Monday, making official the final counts as the Empire State bettered its national all-time monthly records for handle, revenue, and tax receipts.
Handle came less than $1 million shy of $1.8 billion, easily outdistancing the previous record of the $1.69 billion wagered in January 2022, when mobile sportsbooks became first available in New York. The Empire State currently has the top eight monthly handles in the post-PASPA era and 10 of the top 12. All 13 months with online and smartphone availability also are inside the top 50 of all-time handles reported nationally.
The new record for revenue is now $149.9 million, which is some $640,000 better than the short-lived record from November. New York, which has the top seven monthly revenue totals in the post-PASPA era and 10 of the top 12, missed out on the $150 million plateau by less than $114,000 thanks to a pair of retail books posting losses. Both del Lago Resort and Resorts World finished in the red for January, as the retail win rate for January was under 4.6%, the lowest since a 0.4% hold last June.
Overall handle was up 10.2% compared to December and 6.7% versus January 2022. Revenue was 4.8% higher versus December and 21.1% higher against last January as the 8.3% hold was an improvement of nearly one full percentage point.
The $50,360 in retail tax receipts for January lifted the overall haul for the state to $76.3 million, upping the previous record from November by $563,000. Excluding operator license fees, New York has generated $770 million in tax revenue since it first started permitting online wagering.
FanDuel still riding roughshod over the public
All-time Top 10 #SportsBetting handles post-PASPA (Jan in CAPS)
1 New Jersey $33.7B
2 Nevada $29.5B
3 Pennsylvania $18.9B
4 Illinois $18.7B5 NEW YORK $18.45B <-NEW
6 INDIANA $10.93B
7 Colorado $10.2B
8 Michigan $8.9B
9 Virginia $8.1B
10 Arizona $7.2B (Nov)#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 13, 2023
FanDuel continues to raise the state’s benchmarks for handle and revenue among mobile operators, reaching $726.7 million for the former and $81.9 million for the latter in January while also extending its run of double-digit holds to seventh months at 11.3%. It was the third time in four months FanDuel accounted for more than half the mobile operator revenue, while its handle accounted for slightly more than 40% of all accepted wagers.
DraftKings was a distant second in both categories, though its $593.4 million in accepted bets was an all-time high. Its win rate, though, dropped nearly two full percentage points to 6.7% as its revenue dipped 11% from December to $39.8 million. The January handle did push DraftKings over $5 billion all-time in New York.
Caesars was the only other operator with an eight-figure revenue total in January, landing just under $15 million. A 4.5% month-over-month increase in handle to $223.7 million was not enough to offset a 0.6-point dip in hold as revenue slid 4.2%.
BetMGM was the fourth and final operator with a nine-figure handle at $122.9 million, though a 5.9% hold resulted in just $7.2 million in revenue. PointsBet ($3.1 million) and BetRivers ($1.9 million) also had seven-figure revenue tallies, with the former setting an all-time monthly high by $40,000 from its previous record established in February. Both also set new records for monthly handle, as the Aussie-based book nearly hit $58 million and BetRivers accepted $47.6 million in wagers.
WynnBET continues to be flummoxed by New York bettors as its 2.3% hold was the low mark among the state’s nine mobile operators and marked the fourth straight month with a sub-6% win rate. It did clear $10 million handle for the second time, pushing it over $100 million overall.
Mobile operator revenue continued to land in a relatively narrow range, with January’s $149.4 million the fifth consecutive month it was between $141 million and $150 million.
Retail revenue breakdown
Retail handle was slightly more than $10 million in January, a 39.2% year-over-year decline, and though del Lago and Resorts World were losers for the month, the $460,000 in total revenue from the four commercial sportsbooks was still a swing of $790,000 to the positive compared to the start of 2022.
Rivers saw its revenue increase nearly five-fold from last year to $388,000 as its win rate was 7.5 percentage points higher. Tioga Downs had the best hold of the quartet at 15.6%, keeping $115,000 of the $740,000 wagered.
Resorts World paid out $33,600 above the $1.7 million it accepted in wagers, which was a notable improvement from last January when bettors came out $240,000 ahead. Del Lago’s loss was a relatively slim $10,649 on $3.2 million handle, also better than last year when it was $75,000 in the red.
