The Empire State kicked off the New Year by generating the largest sports betting weekly handle ever.
The New York Gaming Commission reported that $600.8 million was wagered during the week ending Jan. 5.
The NFL’s final regular-season slate and several college football bowl games, including the playoff’s quarterfinals, in the period after Christmas and during New Year’s helped the nine online sportsbooks reach $600 million for the first time since mobile wagering launched in January 2022.
Sports betting operators came close a month earlier when they generated a weekly handle of $592.9 million during Thanksgiving week, the previous all-time high.
New York has set a new handle record three times since football season began. Sports betting operators have surpassed $500 million in five of the last six weeks for the first time.
Every sportsbook operator in New York except Resorts World Bet saw a week-over-week increase in wagering.
Hold dips well below average
Bettors held their own during the week ending Jan. 5. Sportsbooks were only able to manage a 6.3% hold, three points below New York’s average win rate in 2024.
That hold produced $38.1 million in revenue, a 38% decrease from the previous week when New York's sports betting operators earned $61.5 million.
The week ending Jan. 5 marked the 11th consecutive week with revenue surpassing $35 million.
Big betting
FanDuel led all operators with a handle of $240.3 million, the second-highest this football season. However, revenue fell from $30.2 million in the previous week to $17.2 million in the week ending Jan. 5 behind a 7.2% hold.
DraftKings generated $192 million in wagers, $26 million more than the previous week and the sportsbook’s highest handle in a month. A 6.6% hold led to $12.7 million in revenue.
Revenue is hard to come by
Fanatics Sportsbook finished third with a handle of $51.3 million in the week ending Jan. 5. BetMGM wasn’t far behind with $48.8 million in wagers accepted, while Caesars reached $40.5 million.
BetRivers generated $12.1 million in wagers to hold off ESPN BET, which took in $11.1 million. However, the PENN Entertainment platform earned just $8,674 in revenue, its lowest weekly profit since launching in the Empire State in late September.
Bally Bet, which generated a $2.7 million handle, was the only operator in New York to see a week-over-week revenue increase.
