March Madness helped the Empire State’s sportsbooks finish strong in the fiscal year.
The New York Gaming Commission reported a March online sports betting handle of $1.85 billion, which didn’t even include the month's final week.
Due to the fiscal year changeover, the period ending March 31 and its $456.4 million handle was not included in the third month of 2024’s final numbers.
Still, the Empire State’s nine online operators combined to produce a reported $151.7 million of gross revenue, 15.4% more than the Super Bowl month of February but down 6.8% year-over-year.
It marked the sixth time in seven months that revenue reached $150 million, thanks to an 8.2% hold. With college basketball, NBA, and NHL dominating the sports betting landscape for the month, the March handle was up 4.5% month-over-month and 3.4% year-over-year.
The Empire State filled its coffers with $76.3 million in tax revenue.
Fiscal dominance
More than $19.6 billion was wagered during the 2023-24 fiscal year. That handle was up 19.5% year-over-year while revenue of $1.76 billion rose 20.5% compared to the previous fiscal year.
FanDuel took in over $8.1 billion, the most-ever in a fiscal year in New York while DraftKings generated a handle of just over $7 billion, $2 billion more than the previous period.
FanDuel stays hot
| Operator | March Handle | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| FanDuel | $781.2 million | $73.06 million |
| DraftKings | $612.2 million | $48.8 million |
| Caesars | $189.4 million | $13.6 million |
| BetMGM | $125.9 million | $7.8 million |
FanDuel led all operators with a handle of $781.2 million while the gross revenue surpassed $60 million for the sixth consecutive month, despite the 9.4% hold being in single digits for the fourth time in the last six months.
DraftKings took in $612.2 million in wagers and produced a revenue just short of $50 million.
Caesars finished third in handle at $189.4 million, but it was forced to pay back a little more than $1 million of its revenue in prior period penalties. Still, Caesars enjoyed $13.6 million of revenue in March, more than double of February’s haul.
BetMGM’s $125.9 million made it the only other operator above $100 million in March. BetRivers generated a handle of $66.2 million but a 5.1% hold only produced revenue of $3.3 million for the month.
Changes to the landscape
Fanatics Sportsbook completed its first full month after it migrated from the PointsBet platform, and the online newcomer recorded $3.8 million of revenue on a handle of $53.2 million. Profits were up nearly 30% from February.
More changes are in store for Empire State bettors this fiscal year. ESPN BET bought out WynnBet’s New York sports betting license in February and will begin operating under the PENN Entertainment brand later in 2024.
