New York's nine mobile sportsbooks had their worst week since the Super Bowl as bettors rode NFL favorites in limiting operators to $20.6 million in revenue for the week ending Oct. 13 according to figures released Friday by the state's gaming commission.
It was the lightest revenue haul for the group since being held to an all-time low of $5.1 million for the week ending Feb. 11 following the Super Bowl. It was down 60.7% from the previous week and 66.7% compared to Week 6 of the 2023 NFL season, when operators set a then all-time high in revenue with $62 million and the current highest hold at 15.4%.
The 4.3% hold for this week was also the weakest since the Super Bowl as handle totaled $483.8 million. Wagering was down 2.5% from Oct. 6, but 20.1% higher than Week 6 of the 2023 season.
Two of the nine operators — Fanatics Sportsbook and Resorts World — finished in the red as both absorbed their largest respective losses conducting business in the Empire State. Fanatics paid out $1.4 million above its $37.8 million in accepted bets, the eighth-largest weekly loss overall in state history and 11th over $1 million. Resorts World took a hit of $221,300 on $1.8 million handle, resulting in a minus-12.2% hold.
ESPN BET's second full week of action in New York showed a 4.6% downturn in handle to $8.7 million, ahead of only Bally Bet and Resorts World. It also struggled against the public, finishing with $189,700 and a 2.2% win rate as winnings plunged 83.5%.
Well, well, well, How the Turntables…
After a September in which New York sportsbooks battered the public and claimed more than $200 million in revenue, bettors finally found some redemption. A slew of road favorites — the Steelers, Lions, Buccaneers, and Falcons among them — all won and covered Sunday afternoon before the Bengals doing likewise in the Sunday Night Football contest added to operators' woes. The public also won big behind the Packers and Texans as both teams posted 20-point routs.
FanDuel best mitigated the damage with a respectable 7.6% hold — tops in the group of nine — on $184 million handle, claiming $13.9 million in winnings. It extended its streak of eight-figure revenue totals to 10 weeks, but its run of double-digit holds was snapped at four.
DraftKings had its week-over-week revenue plummet by nearly 75% to $5.3 million as its 3.1% win rate was nearly 8.6 percentage points lower. It was the softest weekly haul for DraftKings since paying out $3.4 million above $116.4 million worth of wagers on Sep. 3, 2023.
Caesars was the only other operator to scramble over $1 million in weekly revenue, claiming $1.6 million with a 5.1% hold on $31.8 million handle. BetMGM was a distant fourth with $614,000 in winnings, limited to a 1.8% win rate on $33.9 million worth of bets, while BetRivers claimed $503,900 with a 4.8% hold. BetRivers did top $10 million in handle for the first time since Sep. 15.
Fanatics' weekly loss came while posting its third-highest handle since entering the New York scene on Leap Day. It has surpassed $30 million in wagers for five weeks running, but it has been held below a 7.5% hold in four of those instances.
It was the fourth six-figure loss for Resorts World, with its previous worst week coming Nov. 6, 2022, when bettors finished $161,414 ahead on $1.1 million handle.
ESPN BET has had a relatively uneven start in terms of performance, but the 1.8% market share for handle in the first two full weeks of action with $17.8 million of the $980 million wagered may already be a huge concern.
While PENN Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden targeted 7% as a goal for the end of the first 12 months of action for ESPN BET, getting near that target now during the NFL and college football season when action is at its highest would help provide some leeway. Based on projections for the final quarter of the year, ESPN BET would have to generate $175 million handle each of the final three months of 2024 to be near that 7% share.
