Louisiana sports betting exploded in its first whole month with mobile sportsbooks.
Louisiana sportsbooks took $238.4 million in bets during February, according to a Louisiana Gaming Control Board report Monday. Mobile sportsbooks launched Jan. 28, just in time to capture Super Bowl betting with a game that featured former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
The February handle was up 165.5% from January‘s $89.8 million. In November and December, retail sportsbooks in Louisiana took a combined $67.4 million in bets.
Retail sportsbooks suffer
After taking $49.2 million in retail bets during January, the state’s 13 retail sportsbooks handled $27.4 million in February. That is a 44.3% drop.
Louisiana bettors wagered $211.0 million online in February, or 88.5% of the total handle. There are seven mobile sportsbooks live in Louisiana.
The transition away from retail bets was predictable following the mobile launch. In the four days following the mobile launch, sportsbooks took $40.5 million in online bets.
Louisiana sports betting revenue jumps
Louisiana sports betting revenue hit $17.3 million in February, a 7.2% hold. In January, the state’s sportsbooks reported negative revenue as online operators rolled out promotions for launch.
Retail sportsbooks generated $642,663 in February revenue, while online sportsbook revenue reached nearly $16.7 million.
The state collected $2.3 million in taxes in February.
Promos go down
A marketing spending spree during the January online launch likely contributed to the February jump in revenue. The report does not break out numbers by operator or disclose promo totals.
The six operators that began taking bets Jan. 28 shelled out $11.9 million in promos in four days, which dragged a gross revenue of $2.7 million to a collective $9 million loss for online sportsbooks in January, according to a presentation at the February LGCB meeting.
Online sportsbooks can deduct $5 million per year in promotional spending. At least one operator used the entire $5 million deduction in January, according to the February LGCB meeting.
Louisiana Lottery sports betting coming soon
At the end of February, the Louisiana Lottery completed its request for information process to find a partner for its sports betting product. The lottery received an online skin in LA sports betting legislation and will also place kiosks in retailers across the state.
The lottery recently hired Elizabeth Tranchina as vice president of sports gaming, and she will lead the review process of the proposals, according to Kimberly Chopin, Louisiana Lottery director of communications.
Chopin said it would likely be May before a timeline for rollout is ready.
