A $100-million week-over-week handle jump led to the most-wagered period that New York’s lucrative sports betting market has ever seen.
Key Takeaways
- With major sports colliding, the Empire State’s week-over-week handle spiked 16.2%.
- The latest betting volume beat out the previous record by $55 million.
- FanDuel had a monster week, leading New York in handle and revenue.
The New York Gaming Commission reported that $655.7 million was bet at online sportsbooks during the week ending Oct. 26. That period included NFL Week 8, the first two games of the World Series, and the start of the NBA regular season, as well as college football Week 9 and the NHL.
It’s not the first time all of those sports converged in New York, which started online sports betting in January 2022. Still, the week beat out the previous record-handle week of Jan. 5 by over $55 million. Wagering increased by 13.8% compared to the same week in 2024, and the week-over-week volume rose by 16.2%.
It’s only the second time that the weekly handle surpassed $600 million, and New York operators have generated over $500 million in each of the last 10 weeks.
Better than last week
New York’s online sports betting operators hauled in $49.2 million in gross revenue during the week ending Oct. 26. The 7.5% hold was better than the previous week’s 6.2% win rate.
Mobile sportsbooks had their second-most profitable week in October. While gross revenue was up from the previous period’s $32.5 million, profits were down 15.4% compared to the same week in 2024.
Volume up
FanDuel and DraftKings accounted for most of the week-over-week increase in betting. FanDuel led all New York operators with $255.7 million in wagers, a $40-million spike from the previous week. It’s the second-highest handle for the online operator in the Empire State, behind only the last week of October 2023.
DraftKings wasn’t far behind with a $237.8-million handle, up from the previous week’s $198.4 million, and it’s the most wagered at the sportsbook since early March. Fanatics Sportsbook’s handle increased by $5 million from the previous week to reach $50.4 million, its highest since mid-September.
BetMGM finished fourth with a $44.4-million handle for the week, while Caesars fell just shy of $40 million. ESPN BET surpassed $15 million for the first time since mid-June. BetRivers went over $12 million, and Bally Bet was the lone operator to see a week-over-week handle decline.
Hard to hold
FanDuel doubled its week-over-week revenue to lead New York with $22.2 million from a win rate of 8.7%. Fanatics led all mobile sportsbooks with a 10.1% hold, winning back over $5 million. Otherwise, holds over 7% were hard to come by.
DraftKings generated $15.4 million during the week, representing a $4-million week-over-week increase, but achieved a hold rate of just 6.4%. BetMGM and Caesars went below 7%, while ESPN BET wasn’t able to reach 4%.
