New York Tops $2 Billion Handle, $200 Million Sportsbook Revenue in September

New York's sportsbooks had one of the busiest and best months of the post-PASPA era of sports wagering in the United States, surpassing $2 billion in handle and eclipsing $200 million in sports betting revenue for September, according to figures released Wednesday by the state's Gaming Commission.

It was the fourth time monthly wagering eclipsed $2 billion in the Empire State, with the other three occurrences taking place last October, November and December. New York remains the only state to top $2 billion in monthly handle, with September's overall action of $2.08 billion up 17.6% compared to last year and 44.3% more than the $1.44 billion wagered statewide in August.

Revenue surpassed the $200 million benchmark for the third time, with the $206.1 million in operator winnings trailing only the $211.7 million reported for January. New York has the first-, third- and fourth-highest monthly state revenue totals in the post-PASPA era, with only Ohio's $209 million claimed in January 2023 preventing a podium sweep.

Revenue was up 23.5% year-over-year as the 9.9% hold was nearly one-half of a percentage point higher. New York became the first state among 14 that have published September handle and revenue figures to have a sub-10% hold, with the overall win rate boosted slightly higher thanks to a 16.2% hold from the state's four commercial retail sportsbooks that produced close to $1.4 million in winnings.

Total tax revenue to the state for September was $104.5 million, lifting the year-to-date total to $757.1 million. That is $105.5 million shy of the 2023 full-year total of $862.6 million, while all-time receipts cleared $2.3 billion.

ESPN's Modest 4-Day Debut

Despite the substantial amount of sports betting action, one of the smaller September figures will likely draw the most scrutiny. ESPN BET's first four days in the largest marketplace generated just over $4 million handle, which was 0.19% of all wagering for the month.

It also finished with a 2.6% hold, resulting in $103,300 in revenue. The first full week of business that carried into October was on scale in terms of handle at $9.1 million, but revenue was up considerably with more than $1.1 million thanks to a 12.7% win rate.

Both snapshots are too small of sample sizes to draw any notable conclusions, with most of September's wagering likely centered around the final four days of the MLB season. That included the New York Mets' season-ending doubleheader versus the Atlanta Braves in which the Mets clinched a wild-card spot that sparked their current run to the NLCS.

In terms of football, ESPN BET missed out offering wagers for the Sep. 26 Thursday night game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys to open Week 4, but it was taking action for the Sep. 29 contest between the New York Jets and Denver Broncos. The other marquee game in the New York area in that span was the Liberty opening their WNBA semifinal series Sep. 29 against the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces with an 87-77 home win.

Split decision: DraftKings tops handle; FanDuel revenue

Looking at the other eight mobile sportsbooks conducting business for the full month, DraftKings edged FanDuel for the top spot in handle by $4.2 million, accepting $788.3 million worth of wagers.

It was the second straight month and third time since May that DraftKings had the highest handle of the group, clearing $17 billion in all-time handle in New York. DraftKings had a solid 8.8% hold in posting $69.7 million in revenue, a year-over-year increase of 13.5% that outpaced the 11% rise in handle.

But as usually is the case, FanDuel cleaned up when it came to operator winnings, reaping almost $98 million thanks to a 12.5% hold from $784.2 million handle. It was the sixth straight month FanDuel attained a double-digit hold as its year-to-date revenue surpassed $700 million.

FanDuel's Sepetember revenue represented 47.9% of all mobile winnings, its best share since claiming 50.1% in June. It remains the only mobile operator to surpass $90 million in monthly revenue after accomplishing the feat for the fourth time — all in the last 10 months.

Fanatics Making it a 3-Way Tango for No. 3

Beyond the constant push-pull between FanDuel and DraftKings, both Fanatics Sportsbook and BetMGM are pulling Caesars into a 3-way tussle for third in handle. That could also add to the challenges for ESPN BET to muscle its way to significant market share without stronger promotional offers.

Fanatics, BetMGM, and Caesars were separated by $4 million in handle, with Caesars the best of the bunch at $147.2 million. It also easily fended both of them off for the final podium spot for revenue with $13 million on the strength of an 8.9% win rate.

BetMGM, whose $143.9 million handle was nearly $700,000 better than Fanatics, had a 7.1% hold that led to $10.3 million in winnings. Fanatics' 5.9% win rate was the lowest of anyone outside ESPN BET as it finished with $8.4 million in revenue.

Low hold aside, it was still a stellar month for Fanatics, which had a record handle for the third consecutive month while also clearing $8 million for the third straight month. It had more than five-fold increases for handle and revenue compared to predecessor PointsBet's numbers from September 2023.

BetRivers saw its market share for handle decline year-over-year, landing at 2.1% with $43.4 million — down 13.4% from 12 months ago. Revenue sagged 16% to $3.5 million as its 8.2% win rate was one-quarter of a percentage point down.

On Pace for $20 Billion Handle in 2024

After coming relatively close to an unprecedented benchmark of $20 billion handle in 2023 with $19.2 billion, New York looks to be a lock to blow past that mark in 2024. The rolling 12-month handle dating back to last October is $22 billion, a 23.9% increase compared to Oct. 2022-Sept. 2023.

New York's $15.8 billion handle through the first nine months of 2024 is up 21.6% versus 2023, and October has the strong potential of another $2 billion month with both the Mets and the Yankees in their respective LCS and five wins from a Subway Series.

The more exciting metric to follow the final quarter may be whether operators wind up raising $1 billion in tax revenue for the state. That may come down to whatever the four retail sportsbooks kick in at the 10% levy, which wasn't much last year at $241,900.

The mobile books compensated as the state collected $258.1 million in receipts the final three months of last year. That amount this year would be enough to hit the $1 billion mark with more than $15 million to spare in 2024.