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The first nine days of mobile sports betting in New York proved to be a windfall for operators and for state coffers, according to the first figures released on Friday (January 21) by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC).
The four operators that operated between the state’s initial launch on January 8 and the end of the day on January 16 combined to produce $48.2m in gross revenue on more than $603m in betting handle.
For context, the nine-day stretch alone would have been the fifth-ranked state in the U.S. for monthly handle in November, trailing only New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Meanwhile, only six states have ever reported more than $48m in gross revenue for a calendar month — the four above states plus Michigan and Virginia.
If the pace continues throughout the remainder of January, New York could immediately become the largest U.S. market on a handle basis, despite less than a full month of wagers and only some of the state’s nine approved operators launched.
In addition, the $48.2m in gross revenue exceeds the total combined take from the state’s land-based sportsbook market from its launch in July 2019 through the end of 2021, which added up to just under $42m.
The state only collected a 10 percent tax of $4.2m from land-based betting, while New York’s 51 percent tax on mobile betting has already resulted in a $24.6m share for the state in less than a week and a half.
Caesars, FanDuel, DraftKings and Rush Street Interactive were the four operators that were live during the nine-day stretch. BetMGM launched the following day, January 17, and although initial revenues have yet to be released, CEO Adam Greenblatt said last week that BetMGM’s first day in the state had broken all of the company’s previous launch-day records.
Caesars was the market leader through the opening nine-day stretch, bringing in $22.7m in revenue on more than $257m in handle, with the operator using aggressive promotions such as a $3,000 deposit match that it has already begun to dial back just two weeks into its launch.
However, with the extra volume came technological issues that earned the company a host of complaints on social media, for which Caesars apologized in a statement last week.
“New Yorkers have tremendous passion for sports and the state operates on an unprecedented scale all its own,” a Caesars spokesperson told ESPN, a media partner of the sportsbook operator. “That scale has exposed issues in our platform and we’ve made numerous updates every day since launch to improve the customer experience.
“Additionally, we are continuing to increase our customer service capacity to ensure we can respond more quickly,” the statement continued. “We’re committed to the state of New York for the long haul and want to assure every customer that we appreciate their feedback and are working to rectify these issues as quickly as we can.”
FanDuel and DraftKings, who were also aggressive with new player promotions, finished second and third in terms of early market share, with FanDuel bringing in $14m in revenue on about $200m in wagers, and DraftKings earning almost $11m on more than $134m in handle.
BetRivers, the only other sportsbook to launch during the period, earned about $446,000 on approximately $10.6m in wagers.
Unlike most other states, which report revenue data on a monthly basis, New York should publish weekly reports on mobile sports betting as it does with other forms of gaming.
