Week 2 of the NFL helped generate an enormous sports betting handle in the Empire State.
Key Takeaways
- New Yorkers wagered the fourth-most ever in a week.
- Betting is up 13.6% year over year during the NFL’s first two weeks.
- FanDuel produces another low-hold period.
The New York State Gaming Commission reported on Thursday that $611.1 million was wagered through online sportsbooks during the week ending Sept. 20, a 2.8% increase from the NFL’s 2026 debut week and the fourth-largest handle in the market’s betting history.
It’s the sixth $600-million handle ever in New York and the first since late November 2025. Online operators surpassed that mark four times last football season. Wagering during the first two weeks of the NFL season has generated $1.2 billion in New York, a 13.6% increase from the same period in 2025, despite national concerns that prediction markets would contribute to legal sports betting flattening or decreasing compared to last year.
The latest handle rose 14.5% from last year’s Week 2 in the NFL. College football’s Week 3, particularly the LSU-Ole Miss game, helped push action as well.
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Low hold
However, bettors held their own for the second consecutive period, keeping online New York sports betting operators’ hold under 7% again. Gross revenue for the week ending Sept. 20 reached $38.5 million, a 126% increase from the previous week when the public destroyed sportsbooks.
The 6.3% hold during the week ending Sept. 20 was up from 2.9%, but the gross revenue was still down 32.3% from the same period last year. The $58.5 million in gross revenue combined is the lowest two-week output during the NFL season since October 2024.
None of the eight online operators produced a double-digit hold for the second consecutive week.
DraftKings wins the most
FanDuel generated more than $200 million in wagers for the second consecutive week, and the $237.7 million was also the online operator’s best handle since the last week of November. FanDuel only won back 5.4% during the week ending Sept. 20, an improvement from the previous week’s 3.7% but still an unusually low hold for the highest-grossing sportsbooks in the state this fiscal year.
The $12.9 million was FanDuel’s third-lowest gross revenue generated from a handle of more than $200 million.
DraftKings fared slightly better, earning a 6.8% hold on a $208.4-million handle to produce $14.2 million, the most gross revenue for the week. DraftKings surpassed $10 million in revenue for the seventh time in the last eight weeks.
Other operators
Fanatics surpassed $70 million in wagers during a week for the first time since March, but the online operator’s hold below 7% led to $4.7 million. That’s still a massive improvement from the previous week’s $642,600, and it was the fifth period with at least $4 million in revenue over the last eight weeks.
BetMGM held onto 8.2%, one of the better win rates for the week, on a $35.6-million handle, while Caesars generated more wagers with $36.6 million but only won back 5.6%. BetRivers produced a 6.5% hold on an $11-million handle, while theScore Bet had the week’s best win rate, reaching 9.2% on a $7.9-million handle. Bally Bet kept just 6.8% on $3.6 million in wagers.
