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Sports betting in the US is now available in eight states. For some, it has created an instant revenue boom, while others haven’t fared as well as they initially hoped.
Here’s a roundup at how revenue is turning out for five of the new members of the sports betting club.
New Jersey
New Jersey was the second state to begin accepting wagers on sports matches after the demise of PASPA. It has also been the most successful state in terms of both betting activity and revenue.
As it stands, New Jersey sports betting is now present at nine retail sportsbook locations. The state also features nine online sportsbooks, which accept almost three times as many wagers as their land-based counterparts.
With all that betting, the Garden State has accepted wagers in excess of $1.2 billion. Roughly half of that activity occurred in the last two months of 2018.
That amount of wagering yielded revenues for 2018 of just over $94 million. For an industry that didn’t exist until May, New Jersey’s performance and growth represent the gold standard for the rest of the states considering a move towards legalization.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania legalized sports betting as part of a gambling expansion in 2017. The Keystone State was one of many to authorize wagering on sporting events in anticipation of PASPA’s dismissal.
However, it took Pennsylvania until the midpoint of November 2018 to get any sportsbooks open. An onerous licensing fee and taxation structure caused its casino operators to hesitate for a few months.
Three sportsbooks opened for business during that month, and in December 2018, they accepted wagers worth just over $16 million. That handle translated into about $2 million in revenue.
By comparison, New Jersey sportsbooks had revenues of $4 million from $40 million in wagers during their first month of operation. However, there were five sportsbooks active in the Garden State to produce that wager, including a location 6 miles from New York City.
So, all in all, the launch of Pennsylvania sports betting has been a successful one), the books pulled in $682,714 in wagers and a scant $72,997 in revenue.
These figures may be a signal of trouble for the Rhode Island government budget. Gov. Gina Raimondo allocated several millions of her budget to be paid by sports betting tax receipts.
Unfortunately, there may just be too much competition around.
