New York Smashes Sports Betting Records

For more than two years, New Jersey has led the U.S. in both sports betting handle and revenue. That happens to coincide with the state being one of the first two states to allow its residents to wager online through mobile apps. That’s clear confirmation that American sports bettors crave the ability to place their wagers from the comfort of home or while on the go.

A major reason why New Jersey was able to record such amazing sports betting numbers came in large part because New Yorkers didn’t have mobile sports betting options. While sports betting has been legal in NY for over two years, it was restricted to retail betting through retail casinos in upstate NY. That was of no value to the people of New York City who just decided to start driving over the bridge to NJ and do their mobile sports betting in that way.

Over these past two years or so, it was difficult to ascertain just home much of an impact NY was having on NJ numbers. That picture became a lot clearer in January of 2022. On January 8th, four top U.S. mobile sports betting operators (DraftKing, Fanduel, Caesars Sportsbook, BetRivers) opened for business. A couple of weeks later, they were joined by PointsBet and BetMGM. Collectively, these six operators took in an astonishing $1.6 billion in mobile sports bets. That smashes the prior U.S. record of $1.3 billion set by New Jersey in October of 2021.

To be very clear, industry analysts were looking for a number between $1.0 billion and $1.1 billion. There was no one that predicted New York’s sports bettors could push $1.6 billion through mobile sports betting platforms in just 3 weeks. It’s certainly a testament to just how much demand had been building up across the state.

After seeing the potential of sports betting in New York finally coming to fruition, New York legislators have got to be thrilled. Why? As part of the mobile sports betting legislation that was passed, the state gets 51% of gross mobile sports betting revenue. If bookmakers held just 7% in winnings, a little more than $57 million just got pumped into the state’s coffers. That put some smiles on some faces.

Now for the good news. It’s February, and that means it’s Super Bowl time. This is the reward that New York’s operators have been coveting sincere the mobile sports betting legislation was p[assed last year. Is it possible that New York sports bettors could push $500 million through the window on the Super Bowl alone? Based on what happened in January, it would seem a certainty.

Currently, the Los Angeles Rams are sitting at -4.5 over the Cincinnati Bengals with the over/under laying at about 48.5. With 400 or more prop bets available on the big game, the expectation is records will be broken in New York and likely for the sports betting nation as a whole.