Louisiana retail sportsbooks recorded their best-ever handle in January, a month that saw the introduction of online sports betting in the Pelican State as well.
Data from the Louisiana Gaming Control Board has revealed that retail sportsbooks in the state handled $49.3m in January wagers, setting a new record for the state since it opened its doors to retail sports betting in October last year.
The betting figures to kick off the new year beat December’s $39.5m handle by 24.8% and November’s $27.6m wagers by 78.6%.
The state’s sportsbooks were unable to set a new revenue record in January, coming in at $5.3m, up on the previous month’s $4.1m by 29.3%, but down 7.0% on November’s best of $5.7m.
During the month, sportsbooks had a win percentage of 10.8%, generating $533,289 in tax for the state.
Football betting yielded the most revenue with $1.5m, followed by basketball with $313,941. Parlay betting saw $3.5m of all revenue in January.
Since launching in October, Louisiana’s retail sportsbooks have recorded $116.4m in handle, $15.4m in net proceeds with a win percentage of 13.2%, and generated $1.54m in state taxes.
Football and parlay betting have led the way during this period with $4.75m and $9.62m in revenue respectively.
Online sports betting launched in Louisiana during the first month of the year on January 28. Online sports wagering is available in 55 of the state’s 64 parishes that approved sports betting in November 2020.
GeoComply reported that, between January 28 and January 30, over 3.4 million geolocation transactions (not equivalent to total wagers, but a strong indicator of market activity) took place at the Pelican State’s online sportsbooks.
Overall, Louisiana ranked 8th in terms of GeoComply’s transaction volumes (total number of geolocation checks) for the weekend, ahead of Indiana (9), Tennessee (10), Colorado (11), and Connecticut (12).
Online sportsbooks that are operating in Louisiana include DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, BetMGM, and BetRivers.