Happy Monday, everyone. Even after potentially the biggest sports betting news of the year broke with New York‘s winners last week, there are still plenty of storylines to watch for the rest of the year.
The LSR Podcast broke down the winners and losers in New York, and whether the market will look like this for the long term.
There’s plenty still happening in the busy US sports betting world so keep an eye on @LSPReport on Twitter for all updates.
This week’s top sports betting news: NJ, PA reports incoming
New Jersey sportsbooks reported a record $1.011 billion wagered in September. If trends hold, that should be replaced by a new record Wednesday.
This is NJ’s fourth football season with legal sports betting. In the past three, handle grew month-over-month in both October and November.
Pennsylvania sportsbooks could also announce a new record. Handle hit $578.8 million in September and has only crossed $600 million once when the record was set this January.
Both states could report significant jumps if reports from the Midwest are any indication. Handle at Indiana sportsbooks hit $461.1 million in bets for October, nearly 30% higher than the record just set in September. Iowa sportsbooks grew even more with $280.9 million in handle, up 33.5% from September’s record.
Will mobile sports betting stick in Florida?
Monday is the self-imposed deadline for a decision that will determine whether mobile Florida sports betting can continue.
The federal government did not necessarily help its case with the supplemental brief it filed last week, either. The brief essentially stated Florida law authorizes off-reservation betting. Among other issues, that could bring back the argument that the compact goes against Amendment 3, which requires voter approval to expand gaming in the state.
Hard Rock Sportsbook surprisingly launched at the beginning of the month. Whether that was just a trial run or a permanent launch, though, is still up in the air.
Last week’s top sports betting news: New York winners announced
There were not many surprised by the nine winners that now hold conditional mobile NY sports betting licenses, but some of the results were unexpected.
Penn National and Fanatics’ bid did not score well enough to be considered for licensure. Neither did the solo bids from FOX Bet and theScore Bet.
Bet365‘s bid did score highly enough but regulators said there was not enough evidence the operator could grow the market. Adding a 10th license would have dropped the tax on gross sports betting revenue from 51% to 50%.
That left the two biggest bids walking away as winners:
- Bally Bet, BetMGM, DraftKings Sportsbook and primary applicant FanDuel Sportsbook.
- Caesars Sportsbook, PointsBet, Resorts World, Rush Street Interactive, WynnBET and primary applicant Kambi.
It will be a race to see who can go live first. The biggest concern is getting servers placed in one of the four commercial casinos to facilitate mobile betting. That seems to favor the five operators in the Kambi-led bid since Resorts World and Rush Street’s former parent company own two of those four casinos.
September US handle tops $5 billion
US sports betting hit a new handle record in September after Illinois sportsbooks reported nearly $600 million bet in the month.
That pushed total handle to $5.2 billion. Sports betting revenue also hit a record $411.9 million.
Those numbers are not yet final, either. Arizona sportsbooks still need to report results from their first weeks of legal betting.
More top news from LSR
- A Chicago sportsbook would hurt the profits of a future Chicago casino, Rush Street Gaming owner Neil Bluhm said.
- At least one representative plans to push for legal sports betting in Minnesota.
- Bettors in British Columbia are much more active now that single-game sports betting in Canada is legal.
- Online MS sportsbooks could finally be coming in 2022 with a focused effort from the House Gaming Committee.
- Two land-based Louisiana sportsbooks in Lake Charles were approved last week; mobile is now expected to launch in January.
- Wynn Interactive is changing its investment plans for sports betting.
