Why NH Sports Betting Is Pacing Single-Operator States At The Start


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NH sports betting

There are currently three states with only one mobile sportsbook: OregonRhode Island and the most recently launched, New Hampshire.

So far, it looks like the one-operator model is working best for NH sports betting.

DraftKings Sportsbook went live in NH at the end of December and has already taken more than $20.8 million in bets through the Super Bowl.

That’s a pretty solid first month and a handful of days. Handle was, no doubt, helped by the NFL Playoffs with one game featuring local favorite the New England Patriots.

NH sports betting wasn’t set on one operator

New Hampshire entered the sports betting process differently than Oregon and Rhode Island, as the state was open to multiple operators.

In fact, New Hampshire would have allowed up to five mobile and 10 retail operators. But after seeing DraftKings’ pitch, the state decided to go solo.

DraftKings Sportsbook offered 51% of sports betting revenue back to the state if it could operate mobile and retail by itself. The state also authorized Intralot to offer NH sports betting through the lottery.

Having sportsbooks pitch the state in an open process — which is not how Rhode Island and Oregon handled it — meant New Hampshire could get the best operator possible for its situation.

Picking a well-known US brand with its headquarters just south in Boston also didn’t hurt.

Comparing its user numbers

New Hampshire has nearly 35,000 users registered for the DraftKings Sportsbook app as of last week.

That’s not quite as many as the Oregon Lottery has for its sportsbook, which is powered by SBTech. Scoreboard now has more than 50,000 registered users, with more than 6,700 sign-ups the week of the Super Bowl.

About 21,000 of those users were active in the last 30 days as of late January.

Rhode Island, operated by IGT and William Hill, is a distant third place because of its in-person registration requirement. The most recent figures from early December show fewer than 8,000 people have completed the in-person registration process.

Massachusetts is key to NH sports betting

New Hampshire should continue to be more successful than Rhode Island if it wins Massachusetts’ customers.

It’s about equidistant from downtown Boston to the New Hampshire state line or either one of Twin River‘s two casinos in Rhode Island.

But it’s significantly easier to create an account in New Hampshire because mobile registration allows bettors to complete the process remotely. They can drive over the state line and sign up while sitting in their car.

More than 6,000 people signed up for DraftKings Sportsbook in New Hampshire on the first day. A significant portion of those sign-ups were Massachusetts residents, the NH Lottery said.

As of Dec. 2, 4,925 Massachusetts residents had downloaded the RI sports betting app. But only 1,903 out-of-staters had completed the registration process at a casino.

NH mobile handle off to solid start

New Hampshire sports betting had $17.3 million in mobile handle for January, its first full month of operations.

That compares to $17.1 million for Oregon’s first month in November and just $3.3 million in Rhode Island’s first month in September.

Both of those states have shown growth since then, with Oregon hitting $22.4 million in handle for December.

Rhode Island, meanwhile, had a total of $31.7 million in handle during December, with $8.8 million coming from mobile.