The New Orleans Saints may not be good this year, but the Louisiana betting market has shown plenty of bright spots this past month.
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board announced that sportsbooks in the Pelican State accepted $413.4 million in wagers, just 2.8% more than the $401.8 million from October.
Mobile wagers continued to grow month over month, hitting a new high of $380.8 million, 18% higher than last year. On top of that, operator revenue jumped both month over month and year over year. The online sportsbooks enjoyed $52.1 million in net proceeds, over $10 million more than the $41 million collected in October. Unsurprisingly, the hold percentage is to thank with an impressively high 13.7%.
NBA bettors still struggling
There are several differences between the revenue made by the retail bettors compared to their online competition, but one constant was the money basketball wagers brought to the books. Basketball made the mobile operators more than $3.5 million, more than four times the amount brought in by football.
| Market | Revenue |
|---|---|
| Parlay | $36 million |
| Basketball | $3.5 million |
| Football | $795,000 |
| Soccer | $595,000 |
| Baseball | -$537,000 |
| Other | $4.9 million |
Football and baseball revenues were big reasons why Louisiana sports betting didn’t enjoy a massively high tax bill. In October, the mobile sportsbooks reported $7.1 million in revenue from football, while baseball made $1.6 million. But in November, that $8.7 million in combined revenue fell to just over $200,000.
Luckily for the books, bettors still love their parlays, and they lost more money, $36 million, than at any point since December 2023.
Retail market woes pop up again
Brick and mortar locations, unlike their online counterparts, failed to increase their handle in November. After $33.5 million in October, the operators saw a slightly worse $32.6 million last month. And the four-month streak of growing handle, compared to the same time last year, ended with a 2.7% contraction.
But luckily for the retail locations, the hold percentage rebounded from the measly 1.4% to reach a more industry friendly 13%. With bettors losing more money at the casino, operators improved their net proceeds nearly 10 times, to $4.2 million.
But unlike the mobile operators, they had more luck on football wagers. After just $437,000 in net proceeds in October, bettors luck went sour and their losses grew to $1.2 million.
| Market | Revenue |
|---|---|
| Parlay | $2.9 million |
| Football | $1.2 million |
| Basketball | $420,000 |
| Baseball | -$281,000 |
| Soccer | -$7,000 |
| Other | $11,800 |
Another bit of good news is that the retail operators increased their year-over-year revenue by a whopping 216%, they just need to increase their handle to really help their bottom line and the NFL playoffs may be the solution.
