The October sports betting reports are starting to roll in for many states, and Pennsylvania was one of the most recent states to make an announcement. September was a record-setting month for several states in the industry, but Pennsylvania sportsbooks set records last year.
The total October sports betting handle in Pennsylvania was $829 million, blowing past the previous record that was set back in October 2022. This record should have been expected as as there were five weekends of NFL football that took place last month.
Not only did sportsbooks set a record during the month of October, but the massive handle represented a 14% jump in total handle from September. There were some slower months to begin the year in Pennsylvania and beyond, but sportsbooks are bouncing back in a major way.
It’s going to take some time before all of the state announce sports betting handle totals for October, but Pennsylvania could finish as high as fourth place. New York, New Jersey, and Illinois are all expected to have a total sports betting higher than $829 million.
Two Clear Leaders
There are many great online sportsbook apps available in the state of Pennsylvania, but there continues to be two clear leaders. DraftKings and FanDuel continue to dominate most of the sports betting action and those two apps accounted for nearly 72% of the mobile market share.
FanDuel Sportsbook was the leader in monthly handle as it brought in $328.4 million in wagers for the month. DraftKings Sportsbook wasn’t too far behind as it accounted for a total sports betting handle of $258.3 million.
BetMGM has been able to make a strong push in Pennsylvania to get up into third place, but it still isn’t putting up massive numbers. That online sportsbook app accounted for less than 7% of the total market share as things were spread out after DraftKings and FanDuel.
FanDuel was also the leader in gross sports betting revenue, but DraftKings had the most taxable revenue. That means that FanDuel continues to offer more promotions than FanDuel, and therefore it actually brought in less money than its top competitor.
Very High Tax Rate
States with legal sports betting allowed the industry to launch as a way to make money, and the state of Pennsylvania was no different. Pennsylvania has a tax rate set at 36%, but it does allow operators to deduct promotional offerings before paying taxes to the state.
Pennsylvania sports betting was still able to bring in more than $17 million in tax revenue for the month, but lawmakers might want to reconsider the current law. The state has now brought in over $500 million in tax revenue since 2018, but it could make even more money if it stopped allowing so many deductions.
A big reason that the state allows for so many deductions is because Pennsylvania allows other forms of online gambling as well. Those online casinos are bringing in a ton of revenue as well, and that makes up for the lost money with these deductions.
