The first week of college football led to an expected leap in New York’s online sports betting action.
The New York Gaming Commission reported that the eight mobile sportsbooks generated $401.4 million in wagers for the week ending Sept. 1.
College football helped spike a 34.3% handle increase from the previous week and put New York wagering back over $400 million for the first time since the week ending May 19.
Sportsbooks produced a mild 7.6% hold, down from 8.9 the previous week, as revenue jumped 14.3% week-over-week to $30.4 million, the fifth-highest total in the last nine weeks.
It was, however, a much better period than last year’s first week of college football. Wagering dollars were up 28% year-over-year while revenue spiked an incredible 266% from the same week in 2023.
FanDuel holds up
With a handle of $150.4 million, DraftKings topped FanDuel for the highest amount wagered at a New York online sportsbook for the week ending Sept. 1.
Combined with FanDuel’s $142.6 million handle, which was up 34.6% week-over-week, the top two operators took in 73% of the total amount wagered.
FanDuel produced a better hold, keeping 9.4% of the handle to haul in $13.45 million in revenue, most in New York.
DraftKings produced $9.36 million in profits, which was down from the previous week’s $9.4 million. It marked the fifth consecutive week that DraftKings hauled in less than $10 million in revenue.
Other highlights
BetMGM finished ahead of Caesars in New York sports betting for the second consecutive week with a handle of $33.7 million. Caesars was fourth in New York at $31.6 million, but outperformed BetMGM in revenue by $600,000.
Fanatics generated $24.9 million in wagers for the week and posted the fourth-highest revenue at $2.2 million. BetRivers enjoyed an 87% week-over-week increase in dollars wagered to reach $13.1 million.
Bally Bet bounced back after suffering a $6,000 loss in the previous week to claim more than $235,000 in revenue on a handle of $2.3 million.
