The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board recently announced the sports betting numbers for the month of July, and it was a huge disappointment for the industry. July has proven to be one of the slowest sports betting months of the year, but the numbers were staggering in several categories.
The total sports betting handle in Pennsylvania for the month of July was $304.4 million, which was a 27.6% percent drop from what was reported in June. Pennsylvania is a state that is used to seeing that number closer to $500 million, but those figures will be coming again soon.
Online sports betting continued to represent more than 90% of the total betting handle, but that form of the industry saw a decrease as well. In July, the total online sports betting handle was $275.4 million after it was up around $380 million in June.
Both of these figures are a significant increase from the numbers that were reported in July 2020, but that isn’t a fair comparison. Live sporting events were just starting to return 12 months ago, and sportsbooks offered limited betting markets.
FanDuel, DraftKings Leading the Way
One thing that didn’t change in the state of Pennsylvania was the fact that FanDuel and DraftKings continue to lead the way in terms of market share. FanDuel did see a slight drop in its overall market share in July, but it continues to be the runaway leader in Pennsylvania.
FanDuel and DraftKings have combined to represent close to 70 percent of the market share in most months, and that was the case yet again in July. BetMGM and Barstool Sportsbook are currently next on the list, but they have yet to be able to get above 10 percent.
Revenue Also Tumbles
Not only did the total betting handle for the month see a significant drop, but the gross sports betting revenue was down as well. In July, Pennsylvania reported total gross revenue of $19.85 million, and that was a drop of exactly 42 percent from June.
Fortunately for the state of Pennsylvania, the online casino industry continues to do well, and that industry actually saw a jump in numbers last month. Online slots and online table games brought in more than $3.1 billion in handle, and that represented an increase of close to five percent.
Entire US Seeing Drop
There have been nine different states that have reported July sports betting numbers up to this point, and every state has seen at least a 20% drop from what was reported in June. Washington DC saw its total betting handle drop by more than 34 percent, while others saw a similar decrease as Pennsylvania.
Even the state of New Jersey experienced a drop in total betting handle by 24.5 percent month-over-month, and that is extremely rare. The total sports betting handle in July was just $578.7 million after it was up around the $1 billion mark earlier in the year.
