Matthew Amato, analyst at sports data firm LineUps.com brings us the latest monthly round up of sports wagering revenue and expert insights from across the US.
SBC Revenue June 2021
We are getting into the dry summer months of sports betting. With the illustrious football season in view, sportsbooks will be looking forward to better days come September. However, for the time being, revenue and handle will continue to decrease on the whole in almost every single state. This is simply par for the course in North American sports betting as the winter brings two of the most profitable betting markets, the NFL and NCAA Football. Winter also brings more people staying home and wagering online, something that is available in all of our top states this month.
One thing that may help the July revenue is the fact that the NBA Playoffs ran long, and the Olympics have picked up here towards the end of the month. These two betting markets might have just been enough to see an upturn in revenue for July. However, only time will tell if this optimistic forward guidance comes to fruition.
New Jersey
Handle: $766,888,420 Revenue: $71,267,544 Taxes: $8,732,765</b>
New Jersey continues its dominant run as the largest market for sports betting in the United States. Many things contribute to this status, including bettors from New York crossing the border to wager online. However, this may be changing in early 2022, as New York is in talks to launch mobile sports betting. For now, New Jersey can celebrate and continue to rake in huge amounts of tax dollars.
When looking at the month-to-month growth, July was very interesting for New Jersey. The handle was one of the lowest that the state has seen since last August; however, the revenue is the second biggest that it has seen. The only month with larger numbers is January that recorded $82.6m in revenue and $10.4m in taxes. This means that sportsbooks made a massive amount of money on per dollar wagers, recording a hold percentage of 9.3%. This essentially means that for every dollar wagered, the sportsbooks kept 9.3 cents.
Nevada
Handle: $544,806,558 Revenue: $29,186,000 Taxes: $1,970,055
Nevada, which has recently lost its title to New Jersey when it comes to the biggest sports betting state, actually saw very good numbers for June 2021. There are many possible theories as to why the handle jumped nearly $70m between May and June, but the best guess is an increase in visitors to Las Vegas. With more people vaccinated, more travelers felt safe taking off to Vegas in June before the Delta variant of Covid became a concern.
Nevada’s handle is more tied to visitors and travelers than any single sports betting event, like the NFL. This makes sense as the residents of Las Vegas do not account for a huge percentage of the total handle month in and month out. It will be interesting to see if visitors start to drop off as the COVID cases begin to rise due to the Delta variant.
Pennsylvania
Handle: $420,193,377 Revenue: $34,225,520 Taxes: $12,321,187
Pennsylvania has trended downward in terms of handle for three straight months. April, May, and now June have all recorded huge decreases in the amount wagered when comparing it to the previous month. This means that when you compare the $420m wagered in June to the massive $560m in wagers that Pennsylvania recorded in March, you may want to start sounding the alarm bells.
However, sportsbooks actually came away with their highest revenue numbers since January of 2021. Pennsylvania sportsbooks recorded an almost unheard-of 10.1% hold. This translated into more than $12m in tax revenue. This means that while wagers are dropping off a bit, the state is still seeing a massive benefit from sports wagering.
Pennsylvania still firmly holds its spot as the third or fourth biggest sports betting market alongside Illinois. These two states, even in big down months, are clearly above the next tier of markets that include Michigan, Virginia, and Indiana.
Michigan
Handle: $259,504,202 Revenue: $27,244,793 Taxes: $1,120,432
Michigan is one of the few states that saw an increase between May and June of 2021 in terms of sports betting handle. However, the increase was minimal. Similarly to many other states, sportsbooks came out way ahead. The hold percentage totaled 10.5%. This means that the relatively small handle turned into big revenue numbers for the books.
You will notice that the tax number is relatively small for Michigan. However, this is due to the newness and competitiveness of the Michigan sports betting market. Sportsbooks are offering huge amounts of promos in order to entice users to join their platforms. This means that the taxable revenue for the sportsbooks may not be very high. We expect this number to grow each month, as fewer of these promos are offered, and sportsbooks take home a larger percentage of their hold.
Indiana
Handle: $246,321,671 Revenue: $25,464,800 Taxes: $2,419,156
Indiana continues to sneak into the list of top betting markets in the United States. Many believed with the launch of sports betting in so many surrounding states, that Indiana would fall off. However, bettors continue to place their money. While the handle decreased from May by around $8m, June is still higher than the low $236m that April 2021 put up. This is a good sign for Indiana as it continues to fight through the dry summer months.
The state actually pulled in a good chunk of change with $2.42m in tax revenue. This is the third-highest tax revenue ever recorded in Indiana. Again, this will go a long way for sports betting backers in the state as they can point to continued benefits for Indiana, even in months where bettors were not as keen on wagering.
