New York Sports Betting Continues Success Leading Up to Super Bowl Betting

Mobile New York sports betting has become very successful in just the first twenty four days after launching. In January, the state managed to rake in $63.2 million in tax revenue from both retail and mobile New York sportsbooks combined. There was $1.686 billion in bets during this time, for a total $123.1 million in sports betting revenue.

This is a huge increase from tax payments received in the state from the previous two years of just retail sports betting in just a little over three weeks. Of course, casinos were closed from March 2020 to September 2020, but this is still a large increase. The first year of mobile sports betting has benefitted from promotional credits.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had pitched that the state could rake in $500 million in taxes from mobile sports betting when he backed the initiative. This number now seems achievable when looking at the early performance.

Retail sportsbooks in the state are taxed at a rate of 10%. This is compared to the 51% tax rate that mobile sportsbooks pay. However, retail sportsbooks only contributed less than $4.2 million in tax revenue from their launch through December 2021.

Not a single retail casino/retail sportsbook location has even come within a quarter of the handle taken in by any of the live six mobile sportsbooks in January. Caesars, the top New York mobile sportsbook has taken in $627,401,761 in total revenue in January. The second and third mobile sportsbooks in the state, FanDuel and DraftKings, took in $517,492,498 and $377,952,846 respectively.

This equaled $30,082,407 in taxes for Caesars, $14,325,590 for FanDuel, and $15,087,076 for DraftKings.

Over the launch weekend, Caesars Sportsbook came out with enticing promo offers that were worth three times that of their closest competitors. So, this boon has clearly paid off when it comes to answering why the sportsbook has such a share of the market for the first month of New York mobile sports betting. Caesars was able to take in 37.2% of all dollars bet as well as 47.9% of the sports betting revenue for January.

Throughout January, the FanDuel Sportsbook was able to gain steam and pick up an additional share of the sports bets in the state. FanDuel was able to end the month with a 30.7% handle share as well as a 22.8% revenue share.

The DraftKings Sportsbook launched with promotional offers that were comparable to FanDuel, managed to take in a larger revenue share of 24%, but only a 22.4% of the handle share.

BetMGM launched nine days after the initial New York mobile sports betting launch day. So, the operator had some catching up to do when it came to handle and revenue. When BetMGM did launch, it doubled handle and tripled revenue. 

Sixteen days after, PointsBet also launched in the state. It was able to take in just under $2.3 million in bets under BetRivers’ total.

Many eyes were on neighboring state New Jersey’s sports betting revenue for the same period. People were curious to see if the launch of New York mobile sports betting would impact the numbers in New Jersey. However, New Jersey handle was able to hit a new monthly record during the same period with over $1.3 billion in bets.

In a few days, The New York State Gaming Commission will release details on how the state fared with Super Bowl betting. Because of the state’s recent performance when it comes to sports betting, it is expected that New York will lead the pack among United States sports betting jurisdictions.

Nevada reported $179.9 million in handle, followed by New Jersey, which reported $143.7 in handle. The total legal handle that has been reported by 10 states for the 2022 Super Bowl has already topped last year's handle. Last year’s legal handle reported by 17 jurisdictions was $486.5 million.

For the first six days of sports betting in February, FanDuel and DraftKings are now leading the pack, with Caesars coming in third. This shows how the numbers have been impacted by the various bonus promotional offers that the sportsbooks launched with.

Written by Allie Nelson, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert.