The legal start of online sports betting in New York is producing some eye-popping numbers — but perhaps not at a huge cost to New Jersey bookmakers, which some might have feared.
GeoComply Solutions Inc. reported Tuesday that more than one million accounts were created at five online sportsbooks authorized to take bets in the Empire State between the launch of mobile wagering on January 8 and the end of the National Football League’s January 17 playoff game.
The 1.2 million active accounts in New York were set up by 878,000 unique players. That was more than New Jersey and Pennsylvania combined over the same time, according to GeoComply, which helps online gambling companies confirm where customers are.
There were 17.9 million geolocation transactions in New York this past weekend, GeoComply said, topping the 17.2 million transactions recorded on launch weekend that broke previous state records.
Whither Jersey?
Furthermore, the Vancouver-based company said just 9.3% of New York players had previously wagered in New Jersey, pouring cold water on any worries about the Empire State stealing away a ton of business from Garden State sportsbooks. GeoComply added that 87.8% of New York players are newbies when it comes to regulated online sports betting, as they had not been in the company's systems beforehand.
Meanwhile, business looks like it is still going strong at New Jersey betting shops. The state averaged 12.6 million geolocation transactions for the two weekends leading up to New York’s mobile launch and 13.1 million transactions for the two weekends that immediately followed, GeoComply said.
“The momentum of New York’s sports betting launch has continued and it is mostly home-grown,” said Lindsay Slader, managing director of gaming at GeoComply, in a press release. “The vast majority of users are brand new to regulated sports betting in the U.S. The data tell us that New Yorkers are dumping illegal sportsbooks for the new legal options and operators are also excelling at attracting first-time bettors.”
The first 36 hours of #SportsBetting in New York was LEGENDARY. In total, NY saw over 17M checks for their first weekend.
— GeoComply (@GeoComply) January 10, 2022
Check out this video of #geolocation volume! pic.twitter.com/FylPc2BpUQ
GeoComply’s latest figures provide evidence of strong demand for legal online sports betting in New York in just the early days of the state’s wagering market, which is already shaping up to be one of the largest in the United States. That may come as a relief to state politicians who are counting on mobile wagering to provide a boost to government finances.
And New York lawmakers are indeed hoping for a good chunk of tax revenue from online sportsbooks. Governor Kathy Hochul released an executive budget on Tuesday that projects $249 million in mobile sports wagering revenue for the 2022 fiscal year (including $200 million in licensing fees that have already been paid), $357 million for the 2023 fiscal year, and $465 million for the 2024 fiscal year.
The budget document also said the four mobile sportsbooks that were allowed to operate on New York’s opening weekend — BetRivers, Caesars, DraftKings, and FanDuel — took $150 million in wagers over that period.
New York's mobile wagering market is still coming together as well. State regulators have approved licenses for nine online sportsbook operators in total. Only five have gone live thus far, leaving room for additional accounts to be created and bets to be placed.
“New York hasn’t failed to dazzle us, but we are also impressed by the sustained growth of the overall sports betting industry,” GeoComply's Slader said in the release. “We can’t wait to share how many more GeoComply data records are broken from now through the Super Bowl.”
