New York’s sports betting operators enjoyed their best profit week since the NFL Playoffs' divisional round in January.
Key takeaways
- The New York Knicks lost their first two playoff games to the Indiana Pacers, both during the week ending May 25.
- Sportsbooks made more income than Super Bowl week in February.
- FanDuel and DraftKings had 76% of the entire gross revenue.
With the New York Knicks losing two of the week’s three Eastern Conference Final matchups to the Indiana Pacers, the Empire State’s nine online sportsbooks hauled in a whopping $62.9 million during the week ending May 25.
The fifth-highest week since mobile sports betting launched in January 2022, the latest revenue the New York Gaming Commission reported beat out Super Bowl week by $503,000. It’s the sixth time since the 2024 NFL season began New York operators churned out a $60 million income week.
With the Knicks making their deepest run since the turn of the century, New York bettors expectedly chased their in-state NBA team. However, the Pacers won and covered the series' first two contests before the Knicks bounced back with a 106-100 victory as 2-point underdogs on the last day of the most recently reported week.
New York operators had similar success last year when the Knicks lost two games during the week ending May 12, 2024, leading to record $70.9 million profit.
High hold
The $478.2 million handle during the week ending May 25 was down 4.4% from the previous week and ended a back-to-back streak of $500 million wagered. However, the 13.1% hold made up for the action drop.
The latest seven-day stretch gave sportsbooks their highest win rate since the week ending Sept. 15, 2024 produced a 14.4% hold.
This week alone generated an estimated $32 million in tax revenue for the state. That’s nearly a third of April’s entire haul from the 51% sports betting operators' tax rate.
FanDuel, DraftKings go off
DraftKings led all operators with a $179.4 million handle, but FanDuel produced a state-best $26.4 million in gross revenue from a $170.8 million haul during the week ending May 25. It’s FanDuel's highest profit week since making over $33 million during Super Bowl week, but the latest 15.4% hold was just ahead of that week’s 15.2%.
DraftKings enjoyed a 12% hold that produced $21.5 million in income, the operator’s highest since mid-March. The most lucrative U.S. sports betting market’s two biggest sportsbooks accounted for 73% of the Empire State’s handle and 76% of gross revenue.
Other operators
Fanatics Sportsbook generated $36.6 million in wagers, the third-most for the week ending May 25. BetMGM was fourth with a $34.4 million handle, but the sportsbook bested Fanatics by $500,000 with a $4.9 million gross profit. Caesars Sportsbook reached $3.7 million in income for the week, thanks to an 11.8% hold on a handle over $31 million.
Not everybody feasted. BetRivers generated $10.8 million in weekly bets, just ahead of ESPN BET’s $10.5 million, but fell just short of a double-digit hold with $997,348 in revenue. ESPN BET, meanwhile, produced the week's second-lowest hold, which led to a $652,944 profit, nearly half of the previous week’s haul. Bally Bet and Resorts World Bet also produced win rates under 8%.
