It appears that the Empire State sports bettor who wagered more than $119 million during the week ending Aug. 17 didn’t go anywhere.
Key Takeaways
- New York sportsbooks accepted more than $500 million in wagers for the first time since Memorial Day weekend.
- Fanatics posted a 0.2% hold after getting throttled by bettors.
- New York operators combined for a 6.3% hold, despite DraftKings and FanDuel producing double-digit win rates.
The New York Gaming Commission reported on Friday that eight online sports betting operators generated $544.1 million in wagers, an 18.7% week-over-week increase, during the week ending Aug. 24.
Fanatics Sportsbook, which took the brunt of the massive wagers with $147.3 million in the previous week, accepted an even more astounding $212.7 million in bets, the most ever for the operator, in the latest week.
This time, Fanatics got smashed, paying out over $212.3 million, ending up with just $441,167 in gross revenue. The 0.2% hold since the sportsbook lost $3.8 million four weeks ago.
The week’s online handle is the first over $500 million since Memorial Day weekend, which featured NBA playoff games, and the largest since early April. The week ending Aug. 24 produced 82% more wagers than the same week last year.
Low hold
Despite low profits from Fanatics, which ranks third in the lucrative New York market share, gross revenue of $34.2 million rose 2.7% from the previous week. It’s the 18th consecutive week that New York sports betting sites have surpassed $30 million in profits.
The 6.3% hold, however, was the lowest since late March and below double digits for the second consecutive week. It’s just the fourth single-digit win rate over the last 14 weeks.
Market leaders thrive
DraftKings generated the second-best handle for the week in New York with $132.6 million. Surprisingly, Fanatics accepted nearly $100 million more in wagers than FanDuel, which finished third with a handle of $117.3 million.
The top two market-share operators in the Empire State accounted for 87% of the entire online revenue. An 11.6% hold for DraftKings led to $15.5 million in gross revenue, while FanDuel made $14.2 million from a more impressive 12.1%.
Better week
From a $28.1-million handle, BetMGM turned a $3-million profit for the first time since earlier this month. Caesars wasn’t far behind with a handle of $26.3 million and won back 8.4%.
BetRivers nearly matched the previous week’s handle, reaching $8.9 million to finish sixth. The Rush Street Interactive brand made a slightly higher profit than last week. ESPN BET reported a better hold, winning back $892,350 from a $7.2-million handle. Bally Bet enjoyed higher profit margins than the previous week as well.
