New York’s mobile sports betting market continues to be bullish in the first full week of December 2022. In its latest reports, the regulator of the sector, the New York State Gaming Commission, announced that for the week that ended on December 11, 2022, digital sportsbooks have recorded the highest gross gaming revenue for a week since the legalization of the offering.
The Empire State began its online sports betting activities on January 8, 2022, and it features a total of nine bookmakers who are allowed to take bets digitally. Despite being a relatively new market, it quickly became the busiest regulated one in the country and has already generated an online wagering handle of more than US$15 billion.
A New Weekly High
For the week concluding on December 11, 2022, the New York State Gaming Commission reported that the nine sportsbooks generated a total wagering volume of just US$342.6 million. However, it was the gross gaming revenue, which took over the headlines, as it was US$44.5 million. Thus, breaking the weekly record for the state since the legalization of mobile sports betting.
The weekly GGR volume from the first full week of December is almost a 40% increase over the previous week. It translated to just about 13% in operator hold percentage, which was the third-highest weekly win rate since the market launch. After the 51% tax rate on sports betting earnings, the state will receive approximately US$22.7 million in tax revenue for the said week.
Despite the new weekly records, the operators’ standing did not change in the first full week of December 2022, with FanDuel and DraftKings having a strong hold on the sector. The two sportsbooks accounted for 73.4% of the total state volume for the aforementioned week and approximately 76.6% of the gross gaming proceeds in weekly numbers for the sector.
For the week, FanDuel again led the charts as the bookmaker recorded the largest betting handle with US$141.1 million. This was a 7% decrease from its previous weekly one. The operator posted US$20.8 million in GGR, which was a 9.5% improvement. Meanwhile, the second, DraftKings, recorded a handle of US$110.3 million and revenue of US$13.3 million.
After the impressive October 2022, the state’s mobile sports betting market resumed its strong performance in November. For the month, the nine sportsbooks registered US$1.55 billion in handle. With a hold of 9.5% for operators, this translated to US$148.2 million in gross gaming revenue. These numbers broke the previous record for GGR in a single month.
Planning for Next Year
New York Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow who has been a major advocate for the legalization of mobile sports betting has shared some plans for the sector. He wants to see sports wagering customer phone lines as well as more mobile operators for bettors to choose in 2023. An increase of sportsbooks would allow the state to reduce the tax rate, which will be welcomed news for gaming companies.
