Machibet CasinoNew York Online Sports Betting Revenues Drop Despite Increase in Handle in September

New York Giants Head Coach, Brian Daboll, takes the field just before kickoff as we look at the New York sports betting financials for September 2024 — New York Giants Head Coach, Brian Daboll, takes the field just before kickoff. Photo by: Kevin Wexler/NorthJersey.com/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images.

Our best sports betting sites in the biggest sports betting jurisdiction in the country are surely happy to see the summer slowdown come to an end.

The released online sports betting handle and revenue information for September, revealing that sportsbooks handled $1.8 billion. This total was an increase of 2.3% from last September and a 25% jump from August 2024, boosted by the return of the most popular betting sport in the US, the NFL.

However, the state recorded a hold of 8.86%, giving the best sportsbooks a gross gaming revenue of $159.4 million. That was a 3.7% drop year-on-year but a rise of 27.5% from August.

DraftKings Dominates New York Handle

According to the New York State Gaming Commission's data, DraftKings is by far the most popular sportsbook in New York, collecting a handle of $788.3 million on its own. That accounts for around 43% of the state’s total sports betting handle. DraftKings kept an 8.84% hold on this total to walk away with $69.7 million in revenue, also around 43% of the state’s total revenue.

The second most successful sportsbook in September was FanDuel, operated by Flutter Entertainment. FanDuel posted the joint-best hold in the state of 10.28% from its betting handle of $511.6 million, keeping $52.6 million in revenues. DraftKings and FanDuel combined to collect more revenue than all the other sportsbooks in NY, holding more than 75%, as residents continued to take advantage of DraftKings promo codes and FanDuel promo codes.

FanDuel’s numbers fell behind DraftKings despite posting the highest handle in the last week of September, seeing a massive $198.2 million.

Caesars Sportsbook was the operator that got closest to the two dominant betting sites, with a sports betting handle of $147.2 million. Caesars’ 8.83% hold gave the company $13 million in revenues. BetMGM posted a similar betting handle of $143.9 million but only a 7.16% hold, bringing in $10.3 million.

The lowest hold in September from an operator available for the whole month was from Fanatics Sportsbook, with a hold of 5.87%. So, despite handling $143.2 million, close to BetMGM, the betting operator only posted revenues of $8.4 million. BetRivers saw $3.5 million in revenue, Bally Bet $1.1 million, and Resorts World over $600,000.

ESPN BET Makes New York Debut

Resorts World didn’t post the lowest revenues of New York sportsbooks in September, with that honor going to ESPN BET, which only collected just over $100,000 in revenues.

The online sportsbook went live in NY on September 27, so it only had four days of operations to add to its total. ESPN BET took the New York license previously held by WynnBET, which left the New York market in July.

ESPN BET is expected to be a significant driver of revenues in New York, and October will likely be a high-handle month. October 14 could prove to be one of the highest handle days in New York in 2024, as the New York Jets faced off against the Buffalo Bills, while the New York Mets and New York Yankees played in the NLCS and ALCS, respectively.

However, recently passed legislation tightening rules on gambling advertising may have an impact on New York sportsbooks.

Written By:
Ziv Chen

Ziv has over two decades of experience in the igaming and sports betting industry, having served in senior marketing and business development positions with both B2C and B2B companies, including Playtech and Microgaming. In 2019, Ziv decided to pursue his passion for writing and became a fulltime industry journalist, covering casino, sports, and gambling business news. He’s specialties include casino games and technology, US state gambling regulation, company performance, as well as gambling affiliates and marketing. As a Pitt graduate, Ziv is a diehard fan of all Pittsburgh sports teams, with the Steelers at the top of the list. In his free time, he enjoys reading crime fiction, biographies (mainly of sports personalities, but not only) and American history. Ziv’s Favorite quote: “We're going to pursue perfection, knowing full well we won't catch it, but we're going to relentlessly chase it," Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach.