Empire State bettors kept the market’s online sportsbooks to an 8% hold during a busy week highlighted by Week 2 of the NFL preseason and an MLB season that’s heating up.
Key Takeaways
- New York’s sports betting handle stayed below $400 million for the sixth consecutive week.
- Gross revenue fell by 31.5% from the previous period.
- Just one operator posted a double-digit hold.
The New York Gaming Commission reported that eight mobile operators generated $30.5 million in gross revenue from a $381.6-million handle during the week ending Aug. 23. The single-digit hold dipped from the previous week’s 11.7%.
Gross revenue fell 31.5% from the first week of the NFL preseason despite dollars wagered rising 16.7% week over week. Bally Bet, which generated the smallest handle of the period, was the only operator to see a week-over-week revenue increase.
The latest handle was far below $544.1 million for the same week last year when one Fanatics customer bet heavily for multiple weeks. Even though this was the sixth consecutive period with a handle under $400 million, New York sports betting operators have still generated a week-over-week betting increase three times during that span.
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Down week
DraftKings was the most popular sportsbook in handle for the second consecutive week. The operator generated $137.5 million in wagers, nearly $2 million less than the previous period, and won back $10.6 million for a 7.7% hold.
FanDuel finished second in handle at $132.1 million, but the state’s highest-grossing operator was able to produce an 8.1% hold. FanDuel’s $10.7 million gross-revenue haul is the third under $11 million in all of 2026.
Falling back
BetRivers was the only operator to report a double-digit hold, winning back 11.7% of a $7.9-million handle. Fanatics reached 7.3% on over $47 million in wagers, third most in New York for the week.
BetMGM went from two consecutive holds of over 13% to just 7.6% on a $24.9-million handle. Caesars nearly reached double digits, keeping 9.6% of $24.2 million in wagers, while theScore Bet reached 6.4% on a $5.1-million handle. Bally Bet won back 8.5% on $2.3 million in wagers.
