Jacob Wayne, an 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.
January 2022 was another monumental month of growth for the sports betting industry, notably as New York launched its online market and immediately became the most profitable state. At the time of this writing, fourteen of the twenty states that reported January numbers have set records in their sports betting handle.
According to a report by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, legal sports betting is expected to grow to a $5.8 billion industry by the end of next year. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recently reported that the online market could reach $39 billion in annual revenue by 2033, up from less than $1 billion currently.
Recent news in the sports betting industry has surrounded the massive promotional spending that sportsbooks are currently undertaking and the unsustainability of that practice. With sports betting operators cutting their marketing costs in the coming months, we can expect the hold rate and revenue to increase.
This article will discuss the latest results from the most successful individual states reporting their sports betting numbers. In addition, I’ll provide some analysis of trends in each state and what it means for their bottom line in sports betting moving forward. You can visit our website Lineups.com for further information on each of the states below and the sports betting industry as a whole.
New York
Handle: $1,686,263,898 Revenue: $123,130,126 Hold Rate: 7.3% Taxes: $63,209,984
Despite only launching its online sports betting market on January 8, New York broke the record for sports betting handle in a single month. The prior record was New Jersey’s $1.3 billion in wagers placed in October, and New York shattered that record in just 23 days. New York has one of the highest tax rates for mobile sports betting in the country at 51%, and the state generated more tax revenue than most states have in their entire history of having mobile sports betting. New Yorkers placed $572.5 million in wagers during the week of January 23 alone, more than all but four states did for the entire month of January.
There were six operators live in the state last month, including Caesars, which somewhat surprisingly led the market with $615 million in total handle. Caesars generated $55.9 million in revenue based on a 9.1% hold rate. The next-best sportsbook in terms of the handle was FanDuel which came in just above $500 million in total wagers and $23.6 million in revenue on a 4.7% hold rate. However, DraftKings outperformed FanDuel with $27.1 million in revenue on a 7.4% hold rate of $367.6 million in total sports bets. Those three operators took a combined 82.8% of handle over the month’s final week.
New Jersey
Handle: $1,348,860,083 Revenue: $60,195,902 Hold Rate: 4.5% Taxes: $8,019,106
Every sports betting analyst had concerns over New Jersey suffering from the launch of New York mobile sports betting, but the state wasn’t significantly impacted. New Jersey broke its record for mobile sports betting with its January handle beating out its prior record in October 2021 of $1.303 billion by 3.5%. Its January handle increased by 9.7% from December 2021 and 40.7% higher year-over-year. According to GeoComply, just 9.3% of bettors in New York over the first ten days of the market had previously placed bets at New Jersey sportsbooks. GeoComply also reported that the number of transactions increased following New York’s launch.
Basketball was the most popular sport for wagering in New Jersey, with $553.7 million in total bets. Still, operators had just a 0.6% hold rate on basketball wagers, leading to just $3.5 million in revenue. Football was the second-most popular sport with $340.3 million in bets leading to $11.8 million in revenue on a 3.5% hold. Parlays were the most profitable type of wager with a 16% hold rate of $268 million in total bets leading to $42.9 million in revenue. New Jersey’s overall hold rate was just 4.5%, which resulted in $60.2 million in revenue. That still represented a slight increase from December but a far cry from the record $114.7 million in revenue in November 2021.
Nevada
Handle: $1,109,329,327 Revenue: $49,997,000 Hold Rate: 4.5% Taxes: $3,374,798
Nevada joined the party with another record-breaking January. It reported $1.109 billion in sports bets placed, joining New Jersey and New York as the only three states to report over $1 billion in sports bets. January was the fourth-straight month that Nevada reported over $1 billion in sports bets placed, and the handle for the month increased by 9.3% from December and by 71.6% year-over-year. However, Nevada became the third-largest sports betting market for the first time in its long history with a legal sports betting market. Just over 70% of Nevada’s January handle came from online wagers, which represented over $786.8 million in total wagers. However, sportsbooks held just 1.93% of that online handle.
While Nevada increased its volume, like some other states, revenue decreased. Nevada sportsbooks held just 4.5% of January’s handle for $50 million in revenue, a decrease of 4.6% year-over-year. That hold rate still increased from December’s 1.6% rate, the lowest in the state for any month not impacted by COVID-19. The most prominent handle in the state came from basketball, with just over $504 million in wagers placed, but the hold rate was just 2.24% on that sport leading to $11.3 million in revenue. Football was second-most popular, with $454 million wagered. Sportsbooks still paid just under $3.4 million in taxes, bringing the state’s all-time total to $86 million.
Pennsylvania
Handle: $793,722,787 Revenue: $53,403,655 Hold Rate: 6.7% Taxes: $11,581,176
January was the fourth-straight month in which Pennsylvania reported over $750 million in total sports bets placed, and the state has now reported over $12 billion in sports bets placed all-time. The January handle increased by about 5.7% from December and about 28.8% year-over-year. Revenue fell short of the state’s record-high, which was $84.9 million in November 2021, but it was still the second-most profitable month of sports betting in state history. With a high 36% tax rate, sports betting operators paid $11.6 million in taxes, up from $6.8 million in January. In that record-breaking November 2021, sportsbooks paid $22.9 million in taxes. Pennsylvania has now collected over $230 million from sports betting taxes.
A lofty 93% of Pennsylvania’s sports wagers were placed online, and several big-name nationwide operators were highly successful in the state. FanDuel, operating with licensee Valley Forge, reported $249.7 million in total handle, which was 31.4% of the total for the month. With a 5.5% hold rate on that handle, FanDuel reported just under $14 million in revenue for the month. No other operator reached the eight-figure threshold, and DraftKings, with licensee Meadows, was the only other sportsbook to surpass $200 million in total handle. DraftKings collected $206.4 million in sports bets placed and generated $8.1 million in revenue on a 3.9% hold rate.
Michigan
Handle: $532,681,710 Revenue: $36,608,569 Hold Rate: 6.9% Taxes: $1,539,045
It’s been a whole year since online sports betting launched in Michigan on January 22, 2021, and the results have been even better than expected. Like many other states, Michigan’s January sports betting handle was the record for the state. During the first 38 days of sports betting in the state (the final days of January and the entire month of February 2021), Michigan sportsbooks collected $417 million in online wagers. January 2022 represented an increase of 27.5% from that number. Michigan’s handle increased by about 3.5% from December, but the growth has been staggering over the past several months since the state broke through with its first $400 million month in October 2021.
Michigan sportsbooks generated $36.6 million in revenue in January 2022 on a 6.9% hold rate, representing the second-most profitable month in state history. In November 2021, Michigan generated $58.4 million in sports betting revenue on an 11.7% hold rate, the highest since the online market launched. FanDuel was the most successful sportsbook in the state in January with $132.7 million in wagers placed, narrowly edging out DraftKings, which had a handle of $132 million. BetMGM came in third with $110.9 million, while Barstool ($49.9 million) and Caesars ($35.5 million) rounded out the top five operators in the handle. FanDuel also led the way with $8.7 million in revenue (6.5% hold rate) while no other operator topped $6 million in revenue.
