First Week of Mobile Sports Betting in New York Impresses

It was over two years in the making. In fact, New York residents have been waiting a lifetime for the ability to legally wager on sports from home without the inconvenience of travel. That day finally came on January 8, 2022, when licensed sports betting operators started taking mobile sports bets from New York’s most ardent sports bettors.

History was made when Rush Street Interactive (BetRivers brand), Caesars Sportsbook, Fanduel, and DraftKings finally opened their online betting sites to the sports betting public. It set the state of New York on a trajectory to become the top sports betting state in the nation, possibly overtaking New Jersey and Nevada in the process.

A Quick Look at the Numbers

With almost one week of New York mobile sports betting in the books, it would be an understatement to state the initial numbers are impressive. It’s even reasonable to assume the numbers will end up exceeding all initial expectations.

It starts with numbers reported by GeoComply. GeoComply is a software provider that helps online bookmakers track bettor locations. According to officials at the company, there were more than 17 million “check-ins” in the first 36 hours of betting activity from IP addresses located in the state of New York. Furthermore, 5.8 million of those check-ins occurred in the first 12 hours. According to some experts, that could translate to 10 million actual logins that could result in 10 million separate sports bets.

If each bet was wagered at $20 per, that would be $200 million in sports betting handle for the first month, a partial month at that. If the monthly wagered amount were to reach $1.0 billion in handle with bookmakers holding gross profits of 5%, that would result in betting revenue of $50 million per month. With 51% of that going to the state, that’s a cool $25.5 million going into the state’s coffers.

At the individual bookmaker level, BetRivers reported over $790K of sports bets coming in within the first 15 hours. Of that number, slightly more than $500K was wagered on football action. Numbers for the other three participating bookmakers are yet to be reported.

New York’s Gain is New Jersey’s Loss

Before the Super Bowl game in February, the other five approved mobile sports betting operators should be licensed and taking bets. That list includes PointsBet, Wynn Bet, Belfair Interactive, Bally’s Interactive, and BetMGM.

As the handle and revenue grow, the state of New Jersey will be feeling the pain. For close to two years now, the state has benefitted from New York sports bettors who were willing to drive across New Jersey/New York state borders for the purpose of placing mobile sports bets. With the influx of wagering activity from New York, New Jersey has the top sports betting provider in the U.S.

With New York going live, experts are expecting to see New Jersey’s handle and revenue drop by 20% to 25% from 2021 going forward. In the process, it’s very likely New York will take the top spot, though New Jersey should remain in the top 5.