The beatings shall continue until parlay wagering improves.
The Louisiana State Police reported $35.1 million in gross sports betting revenue from parlays Thursday, part of a spectacular September for sportsbooks as they reaped $55.2 million overall.
In the nearly three years Louisiana has conducted commercial wagering, it has been a relative safe haven for sportsbooks. The all-time hold is an eye-watering 11.9%, with September's 15.7% win rate marking the sixth time it eclipsed 15% with at least $170 million handle. There was also a seventh instance last December in which the sportsbooks had a 14.99% hold against a record $377 million handle.
Gross revenue was up 28% compared to last September, slightly outpacing the 25.6% bump in handle to $351.7 million as the crunching hold was only three-tenths of a percentage point higher. It was the second-highest gross revenue in state history behind the $56.5 million won last December, while handle slotted in back of both December and November's $356.5 million.
Handle also surged 50% compared to August while revenue more than doubled. The state had a record inflow of more than $7.6 million into its tax coffers, and the $44.2 million accrued in the first nine months of the year has already exceeded the full-year 2023 total of $43.8 million.
Multi-Leg Wagers Lead to Multimillion Hauls
The LSP only provides revenue figures for select categories, and that may be a good thing given the rampant success Louisiana sportsbooks have enjoyed with parlays. Using 30% handle as a benchmark, the hold would have been a staggering 33.2% on the multi-leg bets.
To get a 25% hold that would have been only slightly higher than the 24.4% reported in New Jersey for September, wagering would have had to total $140.3 million — nearly 40% of all bets.
Parlay revenue accounted for 63.5% of September's total operator winnings, and the year-to-date total surpassed $200 million. It was the second-highest monthly total for parlay revenue in state history, trailing the $43.2 million won by the house last December.
Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Louisiana — the four states where parlay revenue figures are published — have combined for $173.9 million, which represents 70.3% of their $247.3 million in total winnings for September. The parlay winnings also account for 18.6% of the $934.6 million in total gross revenue from the 21 states to report figures for the month.
The catch-all "other" category, which is comprised of golf, tennis, hockey, auto racing, and MMA among others, provided the biggest chunk of revenue outside parlays with a state-record $9.5 million. That demolished the previous standard of $5.7 million in May and was just the second time above $5 million.
Baseball revenue topped $2 million for the sixth consecutive month as operators continued to whittle down the deficit Jim "Mattress Mack" created with his $58.7 million worth of 2022 World Series winning bets. The overall revenue deficit for baseball wagers is $10.1 million, with operators claiming $14.6 million in winnings so far this year.
Hitting a Milestone on the Retail Side
Louisiana's 18 brick-and-mortar sportsbooks combined for $5.3 million in revenue as they surpassed $100 million in all-time winnings. It was the second straight September with more than $5 million in operator winnings, with revenue down 7.2% as this year's win rate was 1.5 percentage points lower.
Like their mobile counterparts, Louisiana's retail sportsbooks did the bulk of their damage via parlays, collecting close to $3.6 million in winnings. That was second in state history behind the $3.7 million won the launch month of November 2021. September's total was a 9% increase over last year and the third time in as many Septembers retail parlay revenue topped $3 million.
