The summer continues to be a slow season for mobile sportsbooks in New York, as a recent weekly report confirms another decrease in gross gaming revenue for operators. For the last week of July 2023, the state’s currently eight active operators took in a betting handle of US$246.5 million. But the increase in volume also saw a drop in gross proceeds for the week.
Since January 2022, the Empire State offers legal mobile sports betting to its residents, which is provided through a total of nine licensed gambling operators. They are FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars Sportsbook, BetMGM, PointsBet, WynnBet, BetRivers, Resorts WorldBET, and Bally Bet. However, the last one has been inactive for over a month now.
Handle Increases but Proceeds Tumble
For the seven-day period that concluded on July 30, 2023, NYSGC reported that the eight operators saw an increase in betting activity, but still, it did not provide larger returns for sportsbooks. According to the regulator, they amassed US$246.5 million in wagering volume, which was 13% from the previous week’s US$217.8 million and 38% higher from the same week last year.
However, the increase in wagers did not provide a bump in gross gaming proceeds for the week, as the US$24.2 million was 4% down in comparison to the prior week. In July, the eight sportsbooks collected more than US$200 million in handle and over US$20 million in revenue in all but one week. Also, for the said week, sportsbooks saw their hold decrease to 9.8%.
The week of July 30, 2023, was rather difficult for FanDuel, which captured US$95.2 million from the total wagering volume or 2.8% more than its previous week. However, the issue was its gross gaming earnings, as the gambling leader disclosed revenue of just US$4.9 million. This was its lowest in a week over a year and a hold of 5.14% was its deepest since April.
DraftKings performed better in terms of revenue as it reported US$13.3 million from a handle of US$94.5 million with a win rate of 14.1%. Caesars Sportsbook got the third-largest handle with US$26.5 million in a 9.6% hold to generate US$2.6 million in GGR. BetMGM clocked 11.5% in a hold and was in fourth place with a handle of US$16.1 million and proceeds of US$1.8 million.
The Situation around Bally Bet
The week ending on July 30, 2023, was the fifth in a row, where there were only eight active operators. This is due to the fact that in June, the operator announced that it will be suspending activities in New York. During the downtime, the company will integrate technology from Kambi Group and said it will take several weeks to resume operations in the state.
It seems only natural for Bally Bet to take some time off in the Empire State, as the operator did not enjoy the best results since its late launch into the mobile sports betting market. For instance, in the week of November 13, 2022, the company was the only one to suffer a loss for the week. Meanwhile, the nine operators recorded gross gaming revenue of US$31.3 million.
