Pennsylvania joined the list of states hitting new sports betting heights in the packed sports month of September.
Handle totaled $462.8 million in September, quickly topping the record set in August by 26.8%. It’s the first time the market broke the $400 million handle mark.
Revenue, however, did not hit a new record, according to the state report. There was $18.3 million in sports betting revenue for September, which is good for 3.9% hold. That follows a national trend of modest hold despite record-setting amounts wagered.
Taxable revenue was much lower, though, as operators used significantly more promotional credits as a percentage of revenue in September. That’s not unusual for big customer acquisition periods like the beginning of NFL betting season.
That $18.3 million in revenue included $12 million in promo credits, or 65.7% of total PA sports betting revenue.
Barstool in Pennsylvania sports betting standings
Barstool Sportsbook‘s partial month debut shot the brand into the fourth operator position from a handle standpoint.
Penn National‘s sports betting brand took $32.3 million in bets last month but lost $2.4 million in revenue after handing out $2.2 million in promos.
FanDuel Sportsbook ($171.2 million), DraftKings Sportsbook ($118.8 million) and Rush Street Interactive ($64 million combined from its two BetRivers brands) rounded out the top three for handle last month.
Don’t be surprised if Barstool Sportsbook jumps over Rush Street for that third spot sooner rather than later, especially if the brand continues to operate at a loss to bring in more customers.
Is Barstool Sportsbook growing the market?
Penn CEO Jay Snowden recently suggested Barstool Sportsbook was growing the Pennsylvania sports betting market in a recent interview.
“We think we’re largely growing the market, which is very important, as opposed to just stealing share,” he said. “That Barstool audience is very loyal. So we’ve been growing the market, from what we can see and what the data is telling us.”
So far, though, two of the top three operators lost market share last month. FanDuel Sportsbook fell from 40.9% in August to 37% in September while Rush Street fell from 15.7% to 13.8%, though both saw handle rise. Barstool, meanwhile, took 7% market share after officially launching Sept. 18.
Penn National also had a distinct advantage in only focusing on Pennsylvania in September and October. That changes in November when Barstool Sportsbook plans to be at the starting line for online sports betting in Michigan.
Online table game handle jumps too
Sports bettors tend to enjoy table games, and the same is proving true on the online side as well.
Non-poker online table handle rose 14.1% to $926.8 million compared to August. Cross-sell between sports betting and online gaming could account for some of that.
That’s compared to flat handle of $1.1 billion for online slots in both months, according to the state’s interactive gaming report.
Plenty of other state records for September
The addition of the NBA and NHL playoffs in September helped push multiple established sports betting states to new records.
New Jersey sports betting set an overall US sports betting record with $748.6 million in handle. That came a month after setting that record in August as well.
Sports betting in Indiana, Iowa, Oregon and West Virginia hit new handle records as well. Nevada, New Hampshire and Rhode Island haven’t reported yet and could also see new records.
Four other jurisdictions – Colorado, Illinois, Michigan and Washington DC – all had their best handle months in September as well, but those all launched earlier this year and are still ramping up and should continue to grow in October.
