New York bettors have taken the Empire State’s eight online sportsbooks on a roller coaster in January.
Key Takeaways
- Empire State sportsbooks combined to produce their worst revenue week since March 2025.
- A similar decrease from the NFL’s divisional round to the conference championships occurred last year.
- Only one online operator produced a hold of over 6%.
A week after sports betting operators recorded a 17.7% hold, winning back a record $96 million on a $545-million handle during the NFL’s divisional round, revenue and win rates plummeted.
The New York State Gaming Commission reported that online sportsbooks generated just $25.9 million from $552.5 million in wagers, producing a 4.7% hold during the week ending Jan. 25. Operators didn’t have a week this bad even during the slow summer months. It’s the least profitable week since the end of March 2025 when bettors feasted on NCAA Tournament favorites.
Volume hasn’t been an issue, with the weekly handles remaining above $500 million every week but one since the NFL season began in September 2025. And while sportsbooks dominated December, a back-and-forth has been the trend this month.
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Rough round
Operators kicked off early January with a rousing $74 million weekly profit thanks to a 12.8% hold before bettors lowered that win rate to below 7% during the Wild Card Round. Revenue again spiked in favor of the sportsbooks in the previous week when the in-state Buffalo Bills heartbreakingly lost to the Denver Broncos.
The public was pretty adamant it was backing the New England Patriots in last week’s AFC Championship Game, but the Denver Broncos found a way to cover the 3.5-point spread in a low-scoring 10-7 loss. The 2.5-point Seahawks won 31-27 over the Rams, who had more underdog support than the Broncos.
A similar profit crash occurred last year when revenue fell nearly 45% week-over-week during the same two weeks in 2025. Still, revenue was down 46% from the same week last year, while the handle was up 2%.
Big boy drop-off
FanDuel typically plays the largest role in New York’s overall weekly sports betting results, and the period ending Jan. 25 was no different. Like the state as a whole, the online sportsbook generated its lowest weekly profit since that fateful period in March 2025, reaching $11 million during the NFL’s Conference Championship week.
FanDuel suffered a more than $32-million week-over-week decrease despite generating a handle of just $1 million less as a result of a a 5.6% hold. Still, the $197.4 million wagered during the week ending Jan. 25 was its 19th consecutive period with a handle of at least $180 million.
DraftKings actually had more dollars wagered than the previous week, but the online operator won back just 4.5% from a $184.1-million handle. The $8.3-million weekly profit was the lowest since the period ending Oct. 5 when DraftKings hauled in $7.6 million.
Low holds
Only one New York online sports betting operator produced a win rate above 6% duing the week ending Jan. 25. Bally Bet won back over 9% on a $4-million handle.
Caesars had it the worst, producing a 1.4% hold on a $35.2-million handle. The operator made less than $1 million in a week for the first time since October 2024. BetMGM wasn’t much better with a 3.7% hold on over $49 million in wagers.
Fanatics won back 4.6% on a $56.7-million handle to score the third-highest revenue week in New York. BetRivers reached 5.3% on a $12.3-million handle, while theScore Bet won back 4.9% on a $13.6-million handle.
