NFL Betting Activity Soars In Week 1: GeoComply Report


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NFL betting

NFL betting activity set a new Week 1 record, as legal online sportsbooks saw 242.3 million geolocation check-ins, a 56% increase from last year, according to GeoComply.

GeoComply tracks user locations for most sports betting apps. It reported its Week 1 NFL betting findings Wednesday after a similar report from JMP Securities.

GeoComply defines a geolocation check-in as any time a user engages with an online sportsbook, which includes registering an account, logging in, logging back in, or placing a bet.

New states drive NFL betting surge

Most of the increase came from states that recently launched legal sports betting markets, according to the report.

StateTransactionsTotal Active AccountsNew AccountsLaunched Online Betting
Ohio19.4M854k133kJan. 1, 2023
Maryland12.7M388k61kNov. 23, 2022
Massachusetts9.2M383k59kMar. 10, 2023

Last year New York led all states in transactions with 15.7 million, though that data did not include activity from Thursday or Monday night games.

New apps fuel signup growth

GeoComply tracked 1.1 million new online sports betting accounts created during the week, a 40% increase from 2022.

Notably, it was the first NFL Week 1 for Fanatics Sportsbook, live in Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. It was also PointsBet‘s first Week 1 bearing the Fanatics name after selling its US business to the sports merchandise giant for $225 million in June. Another driver of new signups, bet365, took Week 1 action for the first time in a handful of new states as well.

JMP Securities reported roughly 971,000 app downloads during the week. Fanatics and PointsBet combined for 12% of those downloads, third-most behind DraftKings and FanDuel. Bet365 accounted for roughly 3%, which ranked sixth, just behind Caesars.

NFL betting tries in non-legal markets

Demand for online sports betting was high in states without legal options as well, the report found.

GeoComply tracked more than 1 million geolocation attempts in six states expected to consider online sports betting next year:

GeoComply estimates that each state misses out on at least $24 million in tax revenue a year by not legalizing online sports betting. Those estimates are based on an assumed 15% tax rate, which is a reasonable middle ground among most states.