Sports betting in Connecticut saw a slight uptick in August action, according to numbers released today by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.
The state's retail and online sportsbooks generated $80.3 million in handle for August, about $2 million more than the previous month. This was a significantly more profitable month for the three legal sports betting operators, however, with a $2.3-million increase in revenue ($10.1 million) from July and the hold increasing from 9.8% to 12.6%.
In terms of who did the best among the online sports betting operators, FanDuel (partnered with the Mohegan Tribe) led the way with $35.1 million in handle and $4.3 million in revenue, followed by DraftKings (partnered with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe) at $29.4 million in handle/$3.9 million in revenue.
Rounding out the numbers is PlaySugarHouse, which is aligned with the Connecticut Lottery Corp., that won $907,725 on $7.6 million in handle.
Connecticut has a 13.75% tax on sports-betting revenue, and after accounting for the federal excise tax on wagering and promo-related deductions, almost $1.2 million was paid to the state by operators in tax for August — up from July's $860,000.
Better days ahead?
There was speculation that Connecticut, which still sees a lot of action from bettors in neighboring (and not yet regulated) Massachusetts crossing state lines to make wagers, was going to take a hit in those revenues, following the news that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a sports-betting bill into law last month.
However, the Bay State's rollout of sports betting has been notably slow, with the latest meetings of the Massachusetts Gaming Committee neither providing clarity on a launch timetable nor even a firm grap on who will be involved at the time of legalization.
In the meantime, Connecticut will continue to reap the rewards with the NFL season underway — which, as the numbers from the first full week of NFL betting in New York revealed... will be plenty valuable.
