Following a rough two-week span for New York’s nine online sports betting operators, the tide turned in the week ending Oct. 27.
Mobile sportsbooks in the most lucrative U.S. market generated a $576.1 million handle, the highest since wagering went live in January 2022. The record handle bested the previous mark of $572.6 million set during the market's third week of sports betting.
Also, the New York Gaming Commission reported weekly revenue of $58.2 million. The previous week, the Empire State’s sportsbooks produced their lowest-ever hold of 1.9% on what had been the second-best handle ever at the time.
In the report ending Oct. 27, profits jumped 460% from the previous week’s $10.4 million, and the 10.1% hold was much more in line with what operators have been seeing this year.
High volume
The NFL has presented a roller-coaster ride this season as the books made out big in September, but Caesars executives said this week that the bettors fought back hard in October.
That’s been the theme in the U.S.’s most lucrative legal sports betting market. Online operators saw a 60.7% revenue drop from the first week of the month to the second, followed by another 49% fall from the NFL’s Week 7 to Week 8.
More action, though, brought more profit. Week 9 of pro football, combined with college football, the beginning of the NBA season, and the first two games of the World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers spurred the record-setting week.
The Empire State produced back-to-back $500 million handle weeks for the second time ever and revenue surpassed $50 million in revenue for the fourth time since football season began.
Leaders lead
Per usual, New York’s top two market-leading operators spurred the bounce-back.
FanDuel enjoyed a 305% week-to-week revenue increase, hauling in $23.9 million on a state-best $240.5 million handle. It’s the first time in four weeks and the third time since the beginning of September that the online sportsbook has produced $20 million in revenue.
The 9.9% hold was closer to the yearly average of 10.8% coming into the week and much improved from the previous three weeks’ 6.8% average.
FanDuel also became the first New York operator to reach $700 billion in year-to-date wagers.
DraftKings had an even bigger week-over-week jump as revenue went from $1.5 million to $19.7 million in the week ending Oct. 27. Handle, however, fell 2.9% week-over-week to $192.5 million, but a 10.2% hold was up from the previous week’s win rate of less than 1%.
Fanatics, ESPN BET shine
Fanatics Sportsbook held the third-best handle for the second consecutive week. The online operator generated $41.7 million, which was slightly ahead of Caesars’ $39.5 million and BetMGM’s $37.4 million.
Fanatics also turned in the better profit of the group, hauling in $5.3 million while BetMGM turned a $500,000 loss in the previous week into a $3.2 million gain in the week ending Oct. 27. Caesars, however, struggled behind a 1.3% hold in the latest report.
ESPN BET recorded its best week of action since going live in the Empire State in late September, generating $11.4 million in wagers. The first handle of more than $10 million was followed by a modest 6.4% hold that led to $727,703 in revenue, the second-highest for the PENN Entertainment platform in New York.
BetRivers, which took in more than $10 million in wagers, Bally Bet, and Resorts World Bet also finished in the black for the week.
