New York has issued its latest numbers on its mobile sports betting sector, which confirm an increase in both weekly betting volume and revenue. For the week concluding on September 24, 2023, operators contributed to a total wagering handle of US$428.3 million, as well as US$35.9 million in gross gaming proceeds.
This year is the second one of the Empire Stateās mobile sports betting market, which officially went online on January 8, 2022, with four digital sportsbooks. Shortly after that all nine operators went up and running. However, there are eight bookmakers taking bets as Bally Bet went offline to integrate a new platform and should be back online shortly.
Activity and Revenue are on the Rise
In its most recent report, the NYSGC disclosed that for the week ending on September 24, 2023, the eight active operators handled just over US$428.3 million in digital bets. This was a solid 7% increase over the previous weekās results when volume hit US$400.5 million. Additionally, it was a 42% improvement on the same week in 2022.
In terms of revenue, the latest weekly report found that proceeds for the bookmakers spiked by 26.9% from the previous week to US$35.9 million. Meanwhile, on year-over-year terms, it was a 100% upgrade. The latest week also was the second one in a row to be under the double digits in hold for operators, as they clocked 8.4%. Slightly up from the 7.1% in the previous week.
For the said week, DraftKings was the top sports betting app with a wagering handle of US$176 million and a hold of under 8%, coming close to its performance from the prior week. Meanwhile, its rival, FanDuel saw a 15% increase in wagers from a betting volume of US$160.1 million. This helped the company record the best revenue return for the week with US$14.8 million.
Up next in the third spot was the usual suspect, Caesars Sportsbook, as for the week of September 24, 2023, it recorded US$43.4 million in handle and revenue of US$3.1 million. A solid increase on its previous weekās GGR of U$1.9 million. BetMGM was in fourth among its bookmaker peers with a betting volume of US$26.2 million and its revenue was almost double from the previous week.
More New Yorkers Enroll in Exclusion Programs
However, according to recent reports, there has been an uptick in New Yorkers who have joined voluntary self-exclusion programs after the legalization of mobile sports wagering. Numbers suggest that there was a 33% increase in enrollments in the first 12 months after launch. In addition to that, there has also been a 23% bump in calls to the stateās HOPEline.
In the meantime, US Rep. Paul Tonko, D-20thās bills to impose a federal ban on sports betting advertisements has not gained any traction in Congress. He explained that there is a need to battle aggressive marketing strategies by sportsbook operators, but also noted that the legislation is not an outright ban on betting ads and instead, it targets predatory advertising.
