New York has shared mobile sports betting figures for the month of April. Handle was down by 15.2% to $1.39 billion from the $1.63 billion posted in March; while gross gaming revenue from mobile sports wagering was down by 8.9% to $104.1 million from $114.3 million the prior month, according to the New York State Gaming Commission.
FanDuel remained the market leader with $63.6 million in revenue from $599.5 million in handle and a 43% market share, and was followed by DraftKings, which posted $19.6 million in revenue from $327.1 million in wagers. Caesars Sportsbook placed third, at $11.8 million in revenue from a $215.7 million handle. All three posted handle down from March.
BetMGM delivered $5 million in revenue after taking $142.2 million in bets, while Rush Street posted $1.8 million in revenue from $38 million in wagers. PointsBet was sixth, at $1.5 million in revenue and a handle of $53.2 million; while WynnBet saw $518,705 in revenue off $9.4 million in handle, and Resorts World posted $335,808 in revenue from $5.8 million in bets.
Although mobile betting in the Empire State was down after a record-setting three-month streak since launch in January, now entering an expected seasonal slowdown, the market remains the top state for sports betting. April’s handle, while the lowest volume for NY since launch, still proves the state can deliver impressive numbers, even while not operating at full speed.
“Without football or the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament to spur interest, April is always the first month of a slower period for the industry,” said Mike Mazzeo, lead analyst for PlayNY.com, which tracks developments in the New York gaming market.
“The NBA Playoffs were the main catalyst in April, though the early exit by the Brooklyn Nets didn’t help,” Mazzeo added. “And the Final Four was a boost. Over the next few months, baseball, major tournament golf, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs will keep bettors engaged, even if at a lower volume than during football season.”
Online sportsbooks took in an average of $46.4 million in wagers per day over the course of April, down from $52.8 million in daily bets in March. The month’s win of $114.3 million yielded $53.1 million in tax revenue for the state.
“The summer months do offer a chance to reach new customers with a different roster of sports. But the industry as a whole will taper some of its promotional spending,” said Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, which includes PlayNY.com. “And the longer odds of summer favorites like baseball parlay betting and golf tournaments are profitable despite not drawing nearly as much interest as a weekend of football.”
The NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament helped drive revenue in March
While sportsbooks engaged in aggressive promotion and marketing tactics to lure customers during the first three months of the year, which included the final games of the football season and March Madness, operators have now begun scaling back on their spending, and the market seems to have settled into the familiar pattern of FanDuel and DraftKings as leaders.
Among operators which have now reduced costs is Caesars, which has scaled back marketing spend by about $250 million without meaningful “degradation in the sports betting handle share” resulting from this decision. “We cut about a little over a quarter of a billion dollars of expected spend from when we started cutting in February,” CEO Tom Reeg told investors this month.
Only BallyBet is yet to join the New York online sports betting market. While the company has been licensed to launch operations in the Empire State, the company has thus far missed both Super Bowl and March Madness. While April was previously mentioned as a possible launch month, that has not been the case, and an official date has yet to be provided.
