If New Jersey figures in April say one thing it’s that The state has barely skipped a beat as New York rolls on as the sports betting champion. Handle topped $926 million; 23.9 percent higher than a year ago, according to Legal Sports Report.
Sports betting revenue of $50.3 million declined 8.2 percent compared to last year, with a stronger hold.
Mobile New York sportsbooks took in $1.39 billion in bets last month.
Baseball saw $177.9 million in completed bets result in just $5.2 million in revenue. The other category ranked second only behind basketball in terms of completed handle with $223 million bet and $6.5 million in revenue.
With a hold of just 2.6 percent on completed events, though, that meant the $323.4 million bet led to only $8.4 million in revenue.
Football, meanwhile, turned in a loss of $1.5 million for the month with $8.4 million bet between the NFL Draft and USFL games.
The Meadowlands sports betting partners combined for $33.3 million in revenue for April, or 66.2 percent of the total reported revenue. FanDuel, PointsBet and SuperBook all license through the Meadowlands.
Second on the list was Resorts Digital at $7.4 million in monthly revenue. Those partner brands include DraftKings, FoxBet and Resorts’ own branded site.
Borgata brought in the bronze with $4.5 million in revenue split between the casino’s own branded site and BetMGM.
In related New York news, BetMGM is pulling back its investment in N.Y. sports betting. No surprise there. With a 51 percent tax, it’s unsustainable.
The result is that BetMGM slipped to fourth in the New York market in April, according to NY Gaming Commission revenue numbers, according to Legal Sports Report
CFO Gary Deutsch said BetMGM could no longer support the “irrational investment thesis” of marketing in a state with a 51 percent tax rate.
“As rational allocators of capital with sophisticated investors in Entain and MGM, we simply can’t apply our capital against an irrational investment thesis.”
“We have hoped that the New York tax environment will be updated, and we can then again more aggressively pursue New York players,” the CFO said.
That said, BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said the illegal market should dissipate over time because of product superiority onshore and continued marketing by legal operators.
But he also asked for help from regulators to fight offshore books.
“As an industry, we have captured a good proportion, but certainly not all of the U.S.-based sports bettors who were active before PASPA fell,” Greenblatt explained.
Indeed, softer data shows the black market is still thriving in U.S. sports betting.
“Our shareholders have agreed specifically that BetMGM can compete in Canada,” Greenblatt said. “And then from a geographic perspective, that’s about as far as we’ve got so far. Does it make sense to look South? That’s certainly a conversation for our shareholders.”
Still, BetMGM expects to draw around $450 million from its parent companies in 2022 and turn profit-positive sometime in 2023.
