Online Connecticut sportsbooks and casinos launched in October after a nearly a decade-long process – and got off to a pretty good start.
The state’s three online sportsbooks generated $483,704 in tax revenue after a full launch Oct. 19. All three were technically live Oct. 12 but had 1,000 bettors or less for the soft-launch period.
Total handle hit $54.1 million with $4.8 million in gross sports betting revenue, good for an 8.9% hold, according to the state’s report.
Sports betting in Connecticut should continue to see growth over the next few months given the recent launch and the popularity of betting on the NFL online. That growth might be slowed by the launch of New York online sports betting, though, since NY clearly contributed to those Connecticut numbers in the first week.
Breaking down online Connecticut sportsbooks
As expected, the two biggest US online sports betting names – DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook – dominated Rush Street Interactive‘s PlaySugarHouse:
| Handle | Revenue | Hold | Taxes/State Revenue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FanDuel Sportsbook | $27,082,842 | $874,160 | 3.2% | $83,810 |
| DraftKings Sportsbook | $23,770,250 | $3,645,466 | 15.3% | $370,429 |
| PlaySugarHouse | $3,246,536 | $293,732 | 9.0% | $29,465 |
| Total | $54,099,628 | $4,813,358 | 8.9% | $483,704 |
FanDuel led with 50.1% of all bets followed by DraftKings’ 43.9% market share. That left 6% for Rush Street.
Taxable revenue fell to $3.6 million after the three operators deducted nearly $1.2 million in promos:
- Foxwoods partner DraftKings: $898,010
- Mohegan Sun partner FanDuel: $203,177
- Connecticut Lottery partner PlaySugarHouse: $71,430
Additionally, retail betting through the Connecticut Lottery started Oct. 25. It accounted for $541,846 in handle and $212,705 in revenue for another $29,247 in taxes paid.
Serving Connecticut…and Massachusetts?
There are just over 3.5 million residents of Connecticut, but the market for these three books is really closer to 10 million.
That’s because sports betting in Massachusetts was ignored for yet another year by the Senate. The House passed sports betting legislation by a 156-3 vote over the summer, but that bill was never entertained by the Senate. There simply was not enough bandwidth in the Senate to handle sports betting, President Karen Spilka said in October.
Now, after rejecting a sensible proposition approved by the House for the second straight year, the Senate is directly responsible for sending taxable sports betting revenue to multiple border states:
- Connecticut
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Rhode Island
