Betting revenue reports for June have been a mixed bag so far, and Pennsylvnia sportsbooks found themselves on the declining side of the story.
Operators took $393.5 million in bets during June, which is down 6.4% from last year and is the lowest handle for sports betting in Pennsylvania since last August.
Sports betting revenue also tumbled, according to Pennsylvania’s June report. The state’s $22.9 million in gross revenue is down 46.1% from last year and 52.1% from May.
Pennsylvania does not pay taxes on gross revenue, though. After more than $10.1 million in promotional deductions, operators paid $4.6 million in taxes on $12.8 million in taxable revenue.
Can COVID be blamed for dip at PA sportsbooks?
“Blame COVID” is a tired trope for businesses in July 2022, but it might actually be applicable here.
Remember, sports betting was much more active into the summer months in 2021 thanks to sports schedules botched by COVID delays the year before. In fact, the end of the NBA Finals happened exactly one year ago on July 20, 2021, when the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns, 4-2.
NHL betting also ran into July last year, with the last Stanley Cup Finals game held July 7.
76ers played through June 20 last year
There were eight NBA Playoff games played by the Philadelphia 76ers last June. Those included the first-round clincher against the Washington Wizards, followed by losing the next series in seven games to the Atlanta Hawks.
Pennsylvania’s reports do not break out betting by sport, but those eight games likely made up a decent chunk of the $26.7 million in handle difference from last year.
FanDuel continues to dominate other PA sportsbooks
FanDuel Sportsbook is clearly the book of choice for most PA sports bettors. Its mobile sportsbook took nearly double the handle and more than double the revenue of second-place DraftKings Sportsbook.
Handle | Revenue | Hold | Promos | |
---|---|---|---|---|
FanDuel | $156,803,740 | $9,965,657 | 6.4% | $4,781,020 |
DraftKings | $87,540,610 | $3,044,571 | 3.5% | $1,060,932 |
BetMGM | $44,377,916 | $2,573,111 | 5.8% | $2,181,771 |
Barstool | $23,158,944 | $1,934,408 | 8.4% | $651,480 |
BetRivers | $15,474,801 | $1,231,503 | 8.0% | $371,444 |
SugarHouse | $8,369,458 | $575,521 | 6.9% | $103,995 |
Parx | $7,621,932 | $891,042 | 11.7% | $270,560 |
PointsBet | $6,804,051 | $652,846 | 9.6% | $451,642 |
FoxBet | $5,226,197 | $410,172 | 7.8% | $77,465 |
Unibet | $4,039,915 | $146,598 | 3.6% | $158,131 |
Betway | $1,605,604 | $103,366 | 6.4% | $0 |
Twin Spires | $1,148,500 | $-13,217 | -1.2% | $10,460 |
Caesars | $1,091,124 | $41,093 | 3.8% | $225 |
Wind Creek | $701,700 | $9,425 | 1.3% | $876 |
Total | $363,964,492 | $21,566,096 | 5.9% | $10,120,001 |
Along with 43.1% of handle share and 46.2% of revenue share, FanDuel also led all online operators in promotional deductions. The brand deducted nearly $4.8 million of the $10.1 million in total deductions.
BetMGM Sportsbook is still trying to grab PA mobile market share as the third-ranked operator. Despite about half the handle as DraftKings, BetMGM deducted more than double the promotions of DraftKings.