The amount being gambled in US states continues to run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Not every state is seeing a continual rise in monthly figures but the next few months could change all of all that.
In Pennsylvania, figures for gambling revenue in July were 8.9% higher than recorded in the same period of last year. Sports betting and igaming were the main reasons for this being so. A total of $467 million was recorded and that was also 6% higher than gambling revenue in the previous month.
The main source of gambling revenue came online. Players love trying their luck on slot games and that a total of $214.7 million was gambled on them in July. The figure is 0.4% more than the June total. While players continued to try and trigger bonus games and win progressive jackpots, there was a fall in revenue for retail table games, declining 3.8% to $83.4 million.
When it came to igaming, there was a massive 34.8% increase in recorded revenue when compared to 2022.
Sport betting revenue for Pennsylvania also saw an increase with the vast majority of it coming online. The handle was $338.5 million and that was 0.6% higher than the same time period last year.
Over 30 US states have now made sports betting legal. One of the latest to do so is Ohio, which saw online sports betting launched right at the start of 2023. The launch went well and in July, the highest handle was achieved by DraftKings. It had been FanDuel who had previously ruled the roost.
DraftKings recorded a handle of £116 million in July, $9.3 million ahead of FanDuel. It’s certainly going well for the two companies with them holding around 70% of the Ohio market. In total, online and retail sportsbooks saw $331 million in wagers in July. Not such good news for Ohio operators was the new 20% tax rate. Over $70 million was received in tax revenue in July.
In Delaware, July saw a fall in online casino and sports betting revenue when compared to 2022. July proved to be a poor month for igaming with a revenue of $36.6 million which is the lowest recorded this year. The total amount was 7.6% lower than seen in July 2022 and a fall of 4% from June 2023.
While online casino revenue was only $1.2 million (5.6% less than in 2022), it was an increase of 7.3% from June of this year, an Agamble spokesperson said, a website about online casinos in the US.
There was also a fall in the amount being wagered on sports betting. The total of $283,025 was a big increase (298.5%) ahead of June’s figure but 26.2% down on the amount recorded 12 months ago.
There were better results seen in the US state of Michigan, especially online. Sports betting and casino revenue was $176.1 million and that’s an 18.8% rise from last year. They were also better than the $169.3 million that was recorded in June 2022. It’s a welcome rise as the past three months had seen a fall in revenue.
Online casinos performed well with $153.6 million recorded in gaming gross receipts. That’s 21.3% higher than in July 2022 and a 1.7% increase from June of this year.
Sports betting fared well with a 4.2% increase on the July 2022 figure. At $22.5 million it was 23% higher than the revenue figure for June despite a fall in the handle when compared with July last year.
It was good news for the gross receipts recorded by the igaming business in Michigan. $138.2 million was an 18% year-on-year increase and 1% higher than in June.
When it comes to the amounts that can be earned from sports betting, there should be big increases in the coming months. The US Open tennis tournament will have been attracting large amounts of bets but more is to come in September and beyond.
The NFL is making its return this month and that’s not just good news for those who love American Football. It’s excellent news too for sports betting operators. Millions of dollars will be wagered on the weekly matches that will take place and this will boost revenues considerably.
That’s the way it works in the sports betting industry. There are periods when the major sports aren’t being played. If there’s no NFL or NBA, then revenue figures won’t be reaching the heights that we have seen them reach. The return of the major soccer leagues in Europe will also be good news for sports betting companies.
The final quarter of the year could be interesting though. Last year saw the soccer World Cup be played in the final weeks of 2022. That won’t be the case in 2023 so year-on-year revenue figures might struggle to keep up with the results achieved last year.
