March might be associated with madness for sports fans in the United States but for the New York gambling industry, there was little to be mad about. In fact, in one segment of the industry, March 2023 stands as the most lucrative month yet.
Commercial casinos and legal online New York sports betting combined to produce $230 million in gross gaming revenue for the month. That represents a significant improvement from the previous year and contains a new record for New York.
Gambling in New York topples one new record and nears another
The annual NCAA D1 men’s and women’s basketball championships usually prove to be the most-bet events of each year in the US. By no means was 2023 an exception to that rule. In New York, that especially rang true.
According to the latest report from the New York State Gaming Commission, bettors put down over $1.785 billion on the nine legal New York sports betting apps in March. The total ranks as second all-time for New York since online sports betting began in the state. January’s $1.788 billion still stands as the record.
The books fared better than ever before in terms of how much of that money they won from bettors, though. The report states that gross revenue off March’s $1.7 billion in bets came to $162.8 million. That bests the previous high of $149.4 million from January by over 8%.
As a result, the state collected just over $83 million in revenue for the month. New York online sportsbook operators pay 51% of their taxable revenue to the state.
Commercial casinos reach annual increase, too
New York saw even more tax dollars come in from poker, slots, and table games in March.
In terms of gross revenue from the state’s four commercial Class III casinos for the month, the total reached $67.2 million. That includes in-person wagers on sporting events, poker, slots, and table games.
That bests March 2022’s $62.8 million and February’s $52 million. Adding in the record gross revenue from online sports betting reaches a total of $230 million for the month. Thus, March 2023 was better in New York than its predecessor in 2022 by about 23.1%.
All four of the casino properties; del Lago, Resorts World Catskills, Rivers Schenectady, and Tioga Downs recorded annual individual gains as well.
- del Lago March 2023 gross revenue: $15.8 million
- Resorts World March 2023 gross revenue: $19.9 million
- Rivers Schenectady March 2023 gross revenue: $20.6 million
- Tioga Downs March 2023 gross revenue: $10.9 million
March was a good month for their physical sportsbooks, too. Only Tioga Downs among them failed to report a winning month in that regard.
The unprecedented returns for New York sports betting are likely set to take a hiatus. With March Madness in the rearview mirror for another 11 months and the NFL season still five months away, sportsbooks should see a downturn.
That gives the casinos more of the spotlight for New York gambling, though. It also affords sportsbook operators in the state time to evaluate their businesses. When the next round of NFL playoffs and March Madness present themselves, New Yorkers will see if March 2023 defends its title as the winningest month ever.
