The ups and downs of summer can certainly frustrate sportsbooks, but legal sports betting operators can’t complain too much about August.
The monthly handle rose 14% from July to $153.9 million while revenue only fell $500,000 month-over-month to $17 million, according to figures from the Louisiana Control Board.
It’s not as good as the 40% revenue jump from June to July, but it beats the nearly 16% drop that Louisiana sportsbooks suffered during that period.
Sportsbooks tried to entice more customers, though, by upping the promotional credits from $685,000 in July to $1.1 million in August, cutting into the monthly profits.
Still, the hold of 11% kept the Pelican State in double digits for the second consecutive month.
Wagers are up 20% year-over-year while revenue is 80% higher from August 2022.
Operators paid out $2.1 million in taxes, which is right on par with last month’s haul for the Pelican State.
Louisiana went over $2.5 billion in handle for the fiscal year.
Online handle rises 24%
Online sports betting sites made up $138.9 million of the Pelican State handle in August, a rise of 24% from 2022. Revenue was nearly $700,000 less than in July as all of the promotional credits came out of mobile, causing the hold to fall from 12.8% to 10.8% month-over-month.
Retail sportsbooks brought in $15.1 million in wagers with revenue of nearly $2 million.
Sportsbook cash in on football
Football was the reason numbers remained closer to July. Baseball revenue dropped in half to $1.5 million in August, but football brought in $3.5 million, thanks to NFL preseason and early college football games.
Parlays made up $9.4 million of the state’s revenue, down from the $10.9 million from July.
