NY Sports Betting Has Lowest Weekly Handle in 8 Months

NY Sports Betting Has Lowest Weekly Handle in 8 Months
Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

It was a huge seasonal dip in mobile New York sports betting handle during the last full week of May compared to the previous week, but there was a substantial boost in gross gaming revenue over the previous week.

For the week ending May 28, 2023, New York had a mobile sports gambling handle of $261.75 million, which was a 14% decrease from the week ending May 21. It also was the lowest reported since the week ending Sept. 18, 2022, when the handle was about $296.67 million.

However, it was a different story when it came to revenue. For the week ending May 28, the mobile sports wagering gross gaming revenue (GGR) was about $35.72 million compared to the previous week’s GGR of $18.91 million. That was an increase of a whopping 89% in GGR in a week-to-week comparison.

The revenue numbers are reported weekly by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC). 

New York Mobile Sports Betting, May 22-28

 
Mobile handle GGR
FanDuel $114,217,185 $19,761,503
DraftKings $83,577,121 $8,730,913
Caesars $31,839,177 $3,634,775
BetMGM $17,919,392 $2,433,181
BetRivers $7,258.564 $458,671
PointsBet $4,211,415 $471,473
WynnBet $1,500,816 $65,296
Resorts World $681,900 $103,788
Bally Bet $499,743 $56,188
Totals $261,745,313 $35,715,788

 

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Inside the NY Weekly Numbers

While the drop in handle in New York for the last week in May appears severe, it reflected what typically happens in sports wagering in late spring and throughout the summer as interest in the sports calendar wanes, at least from a betting standpoint. The drop also could have been impacted by the distraction of the Memorial Day weekend.

Comparing the last week in May 2023 to the comparable week in 2022, the numbers are strikingly similar.

As mentioned, the week ending May 28, 2023 had handle of $261.75 million. The week ending May 29, 2022 had handle of $271.88 million.

However, the revenue in 2023 was a brighter story for the sportsbooks. As noted above, the GGR for WE May 28, 2023 was $35.72 million while the GGR for May 29, 2022 was just $13.84 million.

The healthy GGR for the week ending May 28, 2023 was a result of a tidy 13.6% hold by the NY betting apps.

Summer definitely is the doldrums for sports betting and the handle numbers might continue to decline for a few months.  For instance, last year, the handle for week ending July 24 was just $149.7 million.  So, the sportsbooks will be waiting eagerly for the return of college football and New York NFL betting in September.

Among the state’s nine mobile sportsbooks for the week ending May 28, FanDuel NY maintained its iron grip on the financial lead with $114.22 million in handle and $19.76 million in GGR. That means that FanDuel NY accounted for about 43.7% of the state’s total handle and almost 55.5% of the state’s total GRR.

The No. 2 sportsbook for handle and GGR was DraftKings with $83.58 million in handle and $8.73 million in GGR.

The rest of the sportsbooks were:

  • Caesars Sportsbook, $31.84 million (handle), $3.63 million (GRR)
  • BetMGM, $17.92 million (handle), $2.43 million (GGR)
  • BetRivers, $7.26 million (handle), $458,671 (GGR)
  • PointsBet, $4.21 million (handle), $471,473 (GGR)
  • Wynn NY Interactive, $1.5 million (handle), $65,296 (GGR)
  • Resorts World,  $932,478 (handle), $38,913 (GGR)
  • Bally Bet, $499,743 (handle), $56,188  (GGR)

The weekly tax collected by the state from sports wagering was $18,215,052.

Cumulative Totals, Jan. 8, 2022-May 28, 2023

 
Mobile handle GGRTaxes
FanDuel $9,711,934,297$1,007,415,901$513,782,110
DraftKings$7,149,970,259$567,294,778$280,320,337
Caesars $3,784,969,394 $279,179,103 $142,381,343
BetMGM $1,905,387,979 $120,733.553 $61,574,112
BetRivers $628,543,557 $34,517,168 $17,603,756
PointsBet $586,078,109 $35,097,820 $17,899,888
WynnBet $141,093,985 $8,531,912 $4,351,275
Resorts World $85,316,834 $4,445,468 $2,267,189
Bally Bet $15,286,830 $818,715 $417,575
Totals$24,008,581,244$2,058,664,418$1,049,918,853
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Author

Bill Ordine

Bill Ordine was a reporter and editor in news and sports for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Baltimore Sun for 25 years, and was a lead reporter on a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News. Bill started reporting on casinos and gaming shortly after Atlantic City’s first gambling halls opened and wrote a syndicated column on travel to casino destinations for 10 years. He covered the World Series of Poker for a decade and his articles on gaming have appeared in many major U.S. newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and others.

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