Louisiana capped a strong first 12 months of legal sports wagering in October with a record $255.5 million of betting handle in October, according to figures released by the Louisiana State Police, which oversees the gaming discipline in the Bayou State.
The previous record of $238.4 million came in February, fueled in large part by former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase playing for the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. The availability of wagering on the NFL and college football regular seasons for the first time plus a fifth weekend proved decisive for the new record as handle increased 23.1% compared to September.
Overall, bettors made more than $1.8 billion worth of wagers in the first 12 months of activity. Of the six states that launched in 2021, Louisiana finished second only to Arizona for handle, but there are caveats to that runner-up status: Louisiana has approximately 1 million more residents than third-place Connecticut; Maryland will finally launch mobile wagering Wednesday; and the combined populations of Wyoming and South Dakota are less than one-third of Louisiana’s 4.6 million.
In October, operators cleared $30 million in gross revenue for the second consecutive month and third time overall, though the $30.7 million was 4.9% lower compared to September’s record of $32.3 million as the 12% hold for October was more than 3.5 percentage points lower than the prior month.
Lesser deduction carryover among mobile operators contributed to a record tax contribution of $4.3 million for October as Louisiana’s coffers filled with $26.3 million in tax receipts for the first 12 months of operation — $25.3 million of which came in the first 10 months of this year.
Operators win big versus bettors in Year 1
October #SportsBetting numbers for #Louisiana via LSP, a 🧵. Top-line takeaways:
-Record monthly handle
-$1.85 billion handle first full year
-1st B2B months $30M GGR & AGR
-8th 11%+ GGR WR in first 12 months2/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) November 18, 2022
As sports wagering took off strongly in the Pelican State, operators tended to enjoy the outcomes more than bettors. The hold cleared 11% in eight of the first 12 months, though the first two months of activity were exclusively retail. October marked the fifth time the statewide win rate in 2022 was 12% or higher, with a minimum $115 million handle in those months.
Limiting promotional credits to $5 million per mobile operator proved to be a masterstroke in helping generate tax revenue in the last six months of activity. Operators burned most of their powder early in the year with the NFL playoffs, the Super Bowl in February, and the NCAA Tournament in March.
As a result, the combined spend on promotions from April through October was $2.3 million, compared to $22.5 million from January through March. With operators clearing at least $20 million in gross revenue in four of the last six months, the state was able to levy taxes on 98.6% of the nearly $130 million in gross revenue generated in that span.
New high for parlay revenue
October #SportsBetting numbers for #Louisiana via LSP, a 🧵. Revenue totals by category
⚾️ $1.56M
🏀 $1.52M
🏈 $3.03M
⚽️ $166.8K
🤷♂️ (other) $2.39M
💸 (parlay) $21.64M 👀3/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) November 18, 2022
The Louisiana State Police only discloses revenue figures for select categories, and it appeared bettors held their own wagering in select sports but failed to find the right combinations for successful parlays. Operators racked up $21.6 million in parlay revenue, which accounted for more than 70% of the total monthly revenue and set an all-time high for the second straight month. The house cleared $40 million in parlay revenue for September and October combined, and the $112.9 million in total parlay revenue for the first 12 months of activity represented 53.3% of the total gross revenue.
Football revenue dropped 57.8% from September to barely more than $3 million, which was slightly less than the combined revenue totals from basketball and baseball. The catch-all “other” category, which includes hockey, tennis, and golf among others, provided $2.4 million in revenue, but operators were held to a small profit in soccer with less than $170,000 in winnings.
Football was the biggest revenue generator among sports in the first 12 months at $26.4 million, with baseball a distant second at just shy of $19 million. Revenue from “other” ranked third with $15.5 million, and basketball was fourth with $13.6 million.
