New York’s mobile sports wagering revenue with $188.3 million in December, according to figures released Thursday by the state’s gaming commission.
It is the second-highest monthly revenue total nationally all-time behind the all-time best of $167.3 million.
New York’s four commercial retail sportsbooks would need to generate $1.7 million to reach $190 million in total revenue. That may be too big an ask given the quartet has hit that benchmark just once in 23 previous months of mobile wagering in the state.
The brick-and-mortar venues sured $1.7 million by less than $10,000 in September 2022 but also needed a 19.3% hold on more than $8.8 million handle. The year-to-date retail hold is 7.9% on $81.5 million worth of wagers.
December’s mobile handle was $2.04 billion, second all-time to $1.62 billion in bets to close out 2022. The mobile hold in December was 9.2%, as the digital sportsbooks finished 2023 with $1.69 billion in revenue from $19.1 billion handle to fashion a hold of 8.9%.
The state received an all-time monthly high of $96 million from the mobile books in December, a pleasant stocking stuffer that sent the 2023 mobile sports betting tax total over $860 million. State coffers saw receipts surge by $168.6 million compared to 2022 from mobile wagering, and the 2023 total was nearly 75% higher than former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s $500 million annual estimate when he began the push to legalize mobile betting in New York.
FanDuel closes 2023 with record revenue haul 705j5s
The top 10 YTD #SportsBetting handle if @FDSportsbook and @DKSportsbook handles from #NewYork were states.
1 NJ $10.69B*
2 IL $8.93B**3 FanDuel $7.79B
4 NV $7.42B*
5 OH $6.84B*6 DraftKings $6.81B
7 PA $6.76B*
8 AZ $5.17B**
9 VA $4.96B*
10 CO $4.84B**thru Nov
**thru Oct— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 5, 2024
After back-to-back months with sub-10% holds, FanDuel righted itself in the final month of the year to claim 11.2% of $834.5 million in bets accepted. The $93.6 million in operator winnings was an all-time monthly high in New York, bettering its previous standard of $83.1 million in October while becoming the first mobile book to sur $90 million.
DraftKings also closed out the year with a flourish, setting a high for handle for the second consecutive month at $773.3 million to finish with $6.8 billion worth of wagers. Despite a more modest hold of 8.4% in the final month of the year, it was still enough to set an all-time monthly high in revenue at $65.2 million.
Caesars saved its best for last, posting a 2023 high of $15.9 million in revenue from $202 million handle in December. That was enough to push wagers over $2 billion for the year, but it was only the second time in 2023 that Caesars reached $15 million in winnings, compared to the five times it did so in 2022.
BetMGM‘s $126.5 million handle came within $160,000 of its 2023 high set in April, but its $8.1 million in revenue was down 13.8% compared to its 2022 closeout, as the 6.4% hold was 1.7% lower than last December.
BetRivers capped its biggest quarter of action in the Empire State with nearly $3.1 million in revenue from $50.7 million handle, good for a 6.1% win rate. The Rush Street operator did nearly 40% of its 2023 business in the final three months of the year, but a 4.7% hold in that span meant it collected only $11.4 million in winnings.
Fanatics-owned sportsbook crafted a 9.2% hold on $28.6 million handle as it inched closer to $750 million in all-time accepted wagers.
WynnBET can’t win 43z6w
Will ESPN BET enter the New York market in 2024 by acquiring the WynnBET license? @MattRybaltowski says, "If Wynn wants to charge somewhere around $100 million for that license fee, talks could get pretty contentious there," and discussion ensues on the latest ep of #GambleOn. https://t.co/iCmjasvLSy pic.twitter.com/pt3K1KfUqI
— US Bets (@US_Bets) January 5, 2024
The state’s record revenue haul came despite Bally Bet finishing a combined $575,897 in the red.
WynnBET gained the dubious distinction of becoming the first mobile book in the state to have back-to-back losing months, as it paid out $323,464 on top of $9.2 million worth of accepted bets in December. The late-year slump left WynnBET with a 3.5% win rate for 2023, down more than three percentage points from 2022.
Bally Bet, meanwhile, had a negative revenue swing of $486,596 from November, as its payouts were $252,433 above a record monthly handle of $6.6 million. Since returning to action following the migraton of its sports betting platform to Kambi, Bally’s has accepted $10.9 million worth of wagers, but a minus-0.2% hold means it has a net loss of $18,270.
The final week of 2023 wagering in the Empire State saw total handle of close to $465.7 million, sneaking into the bottom of the Top 10 in 104 weeks of action. WynnBET and Resorts World had losses totaling $115,961, dragging down the overall revenue amount to $36.7 million.
Bettors have been pounding WynnBET of late, coming out ahead the last three weeks and in six of the last eight. WynnBET has paid out $421,023 above the $13.1 million handle it has generated the last eight weeks, good for a minus-3.2% hold.
