New York Sports Betting Handle Decreases 23.4% in Week Ending March 27
New York sports betting is winding down and could be stabilizing as the New York State Gaming Commission reported just $327.8 million in wagers for the week ending March 27. That’s the lowest total since the market launched in January and a decrease of 23.4% from the prior week, seeing $428 million in total wagers. With the end of March producing decidedly less Madness in New York, the market appears to be settling in after an initial surge following its launch on January 8.
March Madness Winds Down
According to a recent survey from the National Research Group, the number of sports bettors in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament declined by round. That survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents between the ages of 18 to 64. While the first round saw 54% of bettors place a wager on the first round, that fell to 46% in the second round, 44% in the Sweet Sixteen, and 30% in the Elite Eight.
In addition to an overall drop in betting interest from the first to the second week of the tournament, there were fewer games to wager on. During the week ending March 27, there were just twelve NCAA Men’s basketball games between the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight compared to 52 games the week prior through the first two rounds and the four play-in games.
New York Approaching $5 Billion in Total Wagers
Since New York’s sports betting market launched on January 8, there has been $4.682 billion in total wagers placed in the state. Even if the week ending April 3 lands with a slightly lower volume than the week ending March 27, the state should surpass $5 billion in its first three months with its live market. For comparison, Illinois is the fastest state to hit $5 billion in total wagers in the post-PASPA era at 14 months.
Top 4 Dominate the Market
FanDuel Sportsbook: The top operator in New York, FanDuel continues to lead the state in market share with a total handle of $133.1 million (40.6% share). That decreased 20.7% from $167.95 million in the week prior. With a 7.2% hold rate, FanDuel generated $9.5 million in revenue (68.4% share). FanDuel has now surpassed $1.69 billion in handle in New York with total revenue of $110 million. With $4.8 million in taxes paid last week, New York has generated $56.1 million in total taxes since launching sports betting.
DraftKings Sportsbooks: DraftKings continues to trail behind FanDuel as the operator, but it still collected $83 million in wagers in the week ending March 27. That’s down about $27.8 million from the week prior, a decrease of about 25%. However, DraftKings had just a 2.2% hold rate leading to $1.86 million in revenue. Since launch, DraftKings has generated $1.15 billion in total handle, $79.1 million in revenue, and $40.34 million in taxes paid.
Caesars Sportsbook: While Caesars continues to trail FanDuel and DraftKings in handle, it surpassed DraftKings with $2.3 million in revenue on the strength of a 4% hold rate. Caesars collected $56.9 million in handle in the week ending March 27. Since its launch, Caesars has generated a $1.2 billion handle with $98.4 million in revenue and $50.2 million in taxes paid.
BetMGM Sportsbook: Unlike the top three operators, BetMGM actually lost money on sports wagering in the week ending March 27 with $432,577 in losses on a -1.2% hold rate. With $36.4 million in total handle, BetMGM still paid $220,614 in taxes that week. To date, BetMGM has now generated $391.3 million in wagers since launch, along with $11.8 million in revenue and $6 million in taxes.