With the battle continuing in California, New York is undoubtedly the biggest sports betting market in the country. However, the Empire State is still not invincible when it comes to the summer slowdown, as the July monthly numbers have been released by the New York State Gaming Commission.
How Was the Overall Sports Betting Handle in July for New York?
Sportsbook operators in New York registered a total handle of $800.8 million in July. After exceeding $1 billion in every monthly handle for the first six months, New York has failed to reach that mark for the first time.
Even though the New York Yankees and New York Mets have played great baseball, this wasn’t enough
to counter the summer slowdown. The MLB is the only major league that is in operation.
For the fifth consecutive month, the handle has fallen by approximately $200 million, which notes that bettors are awaiting the start of the MLB season. The handle has also dropped a significant rate of 23.8 percent from June.
The start of the NFL season is just around the corner as the season kicks off on September 8th. Neighboring states like Pennsylvania and New Jersey have been in the industry for a while and have posted better once the August numbers were released. New York can expect the same after an underwhelming month of July.
The Handle Numbers May be Done But Revenue Posted a Slight Gain
Sen. Joe Addabbo expected a drop-off for July as baseball was the only major sport bettors can place wagers on. Due to New York’s tax rate of 51 percent, sportsbook operators combined to generate a total of $73.9 million, which noted an increase of two percent from last month.
Operators in the Empire State posted a hold rate of 9.2 percent, which was surprisingly the highest figure since the market launched on January 8th. The previous high was established back in May when bookmakers combined for a hold rate of 8.7 percent.
The state collected 37.4 million in taxes for July. From January 8th to July 31st, operators accumulated a handle of $9.3 billion. It’s safe to say that New York will cross the $10 billion handle mark when the August numbers become official.
This has resulted in total gross gaming revenue of $680.5 million. On top of that, the Empire State became the first state to cross the $350 million in tax receipts in the post-PASPA era.
There have been preliminary talks that could lead to a more competitive market. However, it will be hard to do as a high tax rate could push other sportsbooks from entering the market.
How Was the Market Share Among the Different Bookmakers?
With a handle of $347.7 million, or 43.4 percent of the mobile market, FanDuel remains the market
leader. DraftKings looks to pull away from the other competitors as it had an all-time high in terms of market share for the month, which was set at 26.7 percent with a handle of $213.5 million.
With a handle of $118.2 million, Caesars came in third. For three straight months, PointsBet posted a hold percentage of 8,2 percent or better, and for the month, it posted a hold rate of 10.5 percent. BetMGM registered a handle of $73.2 million.
Since Bally Bet went live in the Empire State on July 7th, the company faces a tough task regarding marketing its platform. As a result of the first month of operations, Bally Bet generated gross revenue of $40,000 from its online sports betting handle of $640,000.
However, Bally Bet was able to secure a partnership with the New York Yankees. Similar to FanDuel, Bally Bet will become the official sports betting partner of the franchise.
