A plethora of news is coming from New York as the calendar keeps rolling in 2023. On Tuesday, the New York State Gaming Commission reported that the sportsbook operators claimed $108.2 million in revenue for the month.
The Bookmakers Continue the Nine-Figure Trend
Despite reaching the nine-figure revenue benchmark for the sixth consecutive month, the registered number is the lowest amount recorded since the month of August, which signaled the end of the summer slowdown.
In August, the bookmakers combined to accumulate $99.2 million for the month. This decline is because the public fared well in the Super Bowl. In the exciting matchup, the Kansas City Chiefs pulled off an insane comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles.
The house was limited to keeping $1.4 million out of $100.5 million in the marquee game. A total of $140 million has been reported in each of the previous five months, with $149.4 million in January topping the list.
Looking at the year-over-year revenue figures, the return was higher by at least 32 percent, while the numbers dropped 27.6 percent from the previous month. The monthly handle for February noted a decline of 18.1 percent from January’s record of $1.8 billion to $1.4 billion.
New York remains within $76 million of becoming the third state to clear $20 billion despite the decline after PASPA. The hold rate for the month was situated at 7.4 percent.
February Was An Outlier for FanDuel
There is no doubt that FanDuel is the most popular sportsbook in the Empire State. However, even the best have their off months in the competitive sports betting industry. By accepting $591 million in bets, the operator maintained a market share of at least 40 percent for the fourth consecutive month.
Unfortunately, for the first time in eight months, the leader in the market failed to post a win rate in the double digits in that span. The mobile guru registered a win rate of 9.1 percent for the month.
While FanDuel had nearly $764,000 in Super Bowl revenue, its hold was only 1.8 percent from $42.8 million. With $53.5 million in revenue in February, FanDuel increased its all-time Empire State revenue to $786 million.
DraftKings was a distant second but easily claimed the silver medal for the month by accounting for $491.3 million in wagers, and $33.5 million in revenue. The market share for the month increased by four percent for the month (31 percent), but the operator lost approximately $338,000 for the month.
With $192.8 million in handle and $8.5 million in revenue, Caesars Sportsbook took the bronze away from BetMGM with an underwhelming win rate of 4.4 percent. BetMGM rounded out the top four with $107.7 million in wagers, and $7.5 million in revenue with a seven percent hold. Other operators who cleared $1 million or more were BetRivers and PointsBet.
The Retail Market is the Market’s Kryptonite
With the popularity of online sports betting, retail commercial locations don’t see a fraction of what the average betting volume could be at any given month. Resorts World and Tioga Downs both reported losses for the month.
Resorts posted a loss for the second straight month as it added another $43,000 in losses, leaving the total at $76,000 since the start of 2023. In the last three months, Tioga Downs has lost more than $45,000, and a negative 8.1 percent hold is its worst since del Lago had a negative 12.1% win rate last June.
As the four brick-and-mortar locations generated just under $190,000 in revenue from a $7.3 million handle for a 2.6 percent hold in February, Rivers Casino and del Lago saw modest gains due to a win rate just below six percent. However, that was still a slight improvement over February 2022, when the quarter paid out more than $242,000 over their $6.5 million handle.
