With the NBA season starting, Louisiana saw an increase in sports betting wagers. But with a jump in winning bets, the sportsbooks as a whole saw little changed with their revenue.
Louisiana’s Gaming Control Board reported that their retail and online sportsbooks saw $308.6 million in bets last month, a roughly 10% increase. After paying out winners, the books grossed $42.4 million in revenue, a slight uptick from September’s $41.8 million.
Compared to 2022, October shows that sports betting is still growing. Handle rose by 21% year over year, and revenue was nearly 40% higher.
After months of ever-increasing promotional offers, the online sportsbooks reduced their monthly spend by 34%, although their $875,000 in October was still higher than July’s spend. Despite the reduction, these mobile operators grew their market share in the Pelican State. Brick-and-mortar locations saw just 10% of the statewide action, a slight downturn from the 11% in September. Mobile sportsbooks saw their handle rise 26% year over year while the retail locations saw a 12% decline.
At the end of the day both types of operators enjoyed a double-digit hold. The online markets kept 14.2%, less than September’s 14.5% while the retail books saw a 10.1% hold, a significant drop from their 18.3% the previous month.
A slight drop in hold mixed with a slight increase in handle meant that Louisiana’s tax bill was unchanged with a haul of $5.3 million.
Basketball season brings boost to sportsbooks
With the baseball season ending, basketball brought much needed help to the sportsbooks.
For the online operators, the money coming in from the NFL season was unchanged month over month and baseball revenue dropped by nearly half (from $6.5 million to $3.3 million). Luckily, the NBA season brought the books out of hibernation with a 1700% jump in revenue. Year over year was also a good sign as revenue climbed by 53%.
On the retail side, the basketball market in the offseason has been a loser for the books. July, August, and September put the physical locations in the red by more than $163,000. October provided much needed help as these same sportsbooks reported a $96,000 profit.
