July Sports Schedule Drags Pennsylvania Sports Betting Handle Near $300M


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Pennsylvania sports betting

Add the Pennsylvania sports betting market to the list of jurisdictions that have taken a hit from July‘s slow sports schedule.

PA sportsbooks saw betting handle fall 27.6% to $304.4 million. Sports betting revenue saw a bigger drop of 35.3% to $27.5 million despite a decent hold of 9.0%.

It is the first time PA’s monthly handle has fallen below $400 million since last August.

That translated to $7.1 million in total taxes. Remember that Pennsylvania has one of the highest US sports betting tax rates at 36%.

Pennsylvania sports betting latest to report July pinch

Last year, sports betting was just beginning to ramp up in July after all of the major sports shut down because of COVID-19. That’s a stark contrast to this year, where every jurisdiction that has reported so far experienced a handle drop of 20% or more:

StateJuly handleJune handleDifferenceJuly revenueJune revenueDifference
Iowa$88,963,377$111,176,671-20.0%$7,097,826$8,424,699-15.7%
Michigan$206,267,088$259,504,202-20.5%$20,766,255$27,244,793-23.8%
Indiana$194,492,669$246,321,671-21.0%$17,453,179$25,464,800-31.5%
New Jersey$578,729,290$766,888,420-24.5%$54,966,257$71,267,544-22.9%
Arkansas$2,908,833$3,895,683-25.3%$449,040$359,00025.1%
Oregon$18,189,572$24,903,118-27.0%$2,173,572$2,841,767-23.5%
Pennsylvania$304,415,503$420,193,377-27.6%$27,482,519$42,495,332-35.3%
West Virginia$21,290,275$29,923,766-28.9%$2,295,743$3,466,223-33.8%
Washington DC$12,808,240$19,518,408-34.4%$1,801,748$2,191,485-17.8%
Total$1,428,064,847$1,882,325,316-24.1%$134,486,139$183,755,643-26.8%

Pennsylvania had the third-largest dip in handle and the biggest dip in revenue out of the nine jurisdictions that have reported so far.

PA online handle share shifts in July

FanDuel Sportsbook is still far and away the online sportsbook leader in Pennsylvania, but it saw that share slip a bit in July.

SportsbookJuly handleJuly shareJune handleJune shareDifference*
FanDuel Sportsbook$106,726,31738.7%$162,520,69942.9%-4.2
DraftKings Sportsbook$66,227,00624.0%$86,028,64622.7%+1.3
BetMGM$29,042,45310.5%$37,404,3039.9%+0.6
Barstool Sportsbook$23,434,0628.5%$31,871,2148.4%+0.1
BetRivers$14,459,8985.2%$18,477,5494.9%+0.3
FOX Bet$10,036,0703.6%$12,591,8093.3%+0.3
SugarHouse$9,041,0453.3%$11,345,7183.0%+0.3
Parx$7,885,5302.9%$9,768,7912.6%+0.3
Unibet$4,536,4081.6%$4,744,0201.3%+0.3
TwinSpires$2,143,7990.8%$2,228,3980.6%+0.2
Caesars$947,5320.3%$1,500,0840.4%-0.1
Betway$563,4810.2%$14,8830.0%-0.2
Wind Creek$406,2590.1%$771,6480.2%-0.1
Total$275,449,860100.0%$379,267,762100.0%

*Difference is listed in percentage points

FanDuel saw the biggest drop at 4.2 percentage points. DraftKings Sportsbook, solidly safe in second place for now, saw the biggest increase at 1.4 percentage points.

BetMGM became the third sportsbook in the market with double-digit market share, gaining 0.6 percentage points for a 10.5% online handle share.

iGaming shows steady online trends

The $103.8 million dip in online handle is a lot, but it is clear from Pennsylvania’s other online market that the dip is simply schedule-related.

Online slot handle was $1.74 billion, up 5.5% from June, while online table drop was $1.43 billion, down just 1.5%.

The sports betting schedule remains slow through August, but at least there is preseason NFL betting to draw inactive bettors back in. Pennsylvania sportsbooks are in the midst of significant advertising campaigns right now with football season right around the corner.