The second weekend of the NCAA Tournament wasn’t nearly as profitable as the first for New York’s eight online sports betting operators.
Key Takeaways
- The handle during the week ending March 29 was down 11% from the previous week and even steeper year over year.
- FanDuel accounted for more than a third of New York operators’ profits.
- Fanatics and BetMGM struggled during the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
The handle during the week ending March 29 dipped 11.3% from the previous week to $492.1 million, and mobile sportsbooks won back 7.5% to claim $36.9 million in gross revenue, the New York State Gaming Commission recently reported.
Profits fell week over week by 36%, and New York sports betting operators produced their lowest gross revenue since the week ending Jan. 25. Still, the week of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight wasn’t anything like the previous year when all four No. 1 seeds reached the Final Four.
During an unprecedented run by favorites, the same week in 2025 led to a 1.6% hold and just $8.4 million in gross revenue from a $522.4-million handle. This year, all eight online operators finished in the black, unlike in 2025.
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Eating up profit
FanDuel’s $174.2-million handle accounted for 35% of the entire amount wagered in New York during the week. The online operator also led the state with gross revenue of $16.7 million behind an 11.3% hold, well above the $4.3 million made during the same week in 2025.
Combined with DraftKings’ $15 million in weekly profits, the two sportsbooks made up 86% of all operator revenue. DraftKings won back 9.5% of a $157.3-million handle, with the week’s year-over-year revenue increasing a massive 1,150%.
Revenue hard to come by
Fanatics finished with the third-best handle with $66.4 million in wagers, but the online operator failed to even match last week’s 6% hold, winning back just 5.1% during the week ending March 29. BetMGM had an even worse week, producing a 2.2% hold on a $38.5-million handle, but at least the operator didn’t finish in the red like it did for last year’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight.
Caesars won back $2.4 millon on a $31.6-million handle, while theScore Bet was the only other operator to clear $1 million in weekly profits. BetRivers produced a 5.3% hold on a handle of a little over $10 million, while Bally Bet fell just shy of a double-digit win rate on $3.4 million in wagers.
