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New York City hits record online sports betting revenue in September | NYC smashes record GGR with $144.3m in September
Neil is a gambling industry veteran with over 15 years experience as a content writer, editor and speaker at events. He has a Masters degree in English Literature and Philosophy and has combined this analytical inquisitiveness with a passion for sports betting and casino gaming. Neil started his career with Bettingpro.com and helped build not only that site but various others such as LiveTennis.com, LiveDarts.com and numerous other sports informational sites, including GG.co.uk and RacingTips.com He then made the transition to the North American market, working both in the UK and in New Jersey to launch various sports betting and casino sites, including AmericanBettingExperts and NewAmericanCasinos. Working with regulators, Neil has helped to review sports betting sites and also test the regulated betting apps in a professional capacity. He now works almost exclusively in the US market and is one of the main reviewers and fact checkers on SportsLens gambling content. He also speaks at various gambling conferences including ICE, iGB Live and SBC Americas and has contributed to GamblingInsider, EGR Magazine and a number of others in a consulting capacity.
All posts by Neil RoartyUpdated11 hours ago on April 27, 2024
New York City has recorded its highest online sports betting GGR for the month of September, since its launch in January 2022. The total GGR recorded for the month was US$143.33m, eclipsing the previous high in launch month of US$124.1m. This ultimately owed to higher margins (and less bonusing) given handle reached US$1.25bn in contrast to January’s US$1.7bn.
Industry experts were expecting a major rebound across the United States of America in September given July and August are seasonally the quietest months, with no NBA and NFL action for bettors to wager on. Similarly, with online gaming not legal (but being considered) in New York City, there is no cross-sell product to absorb lowering handle in quiet months.
What was the market share?
FanDuel (Flutter) continued to be the clear market leader in New York, making 46% of the state’s Gross Gaming Revenue with US$65.69m in September. In second and third place with 31% and 13% respectively were DraftKings and Caesars Entertainment who were the only other operators to record a higher than 10% share of state online revenue for the month of September.
Following on, BetMGM recorded 5.99% of GGR, Rush Street 1.86%, PointsBet 1.21% with the tail being completed by Wynn (0.48%), Resorts World Bet (0.28%) and the most recently launched BallyBet (0.1%). These figures are broadly speaking reflected in the handle statistics too, although FanDuel achieves 46% GGR with just 40% of handle. On the contrary, DraftKings recorded 34% of handle, more than its 31% revenue showing poorer margins/bonusing than the NYC market leader.
With NYC’s particularly aggressive tax rate of 51% on GGR, the state continues to reap the benefits of a highly competitive market with some of the largest figures in the US. The return to state is comfortably the highest, even with dwindling figures in months prior. Promotional activity in the Big Apple remains healthy, but with the margin for the operator being so ‘slim’ due to tax, it’ll be interesting to see how long it sustains for. Given the short hop across to New Jersey was always an option prior to legal launch in NYC, it’s unsurprising some of the largest brands were already very well known.
Operators will be keeping a keen eye on the potential for online gaming to be legalized in coming years, as it’ll undoubtedly be a huge market. The question is, if tax on sports betting is 51%, just how high can it go on iGaming?
