It’s a baseball fan’s world, and we’re all just living in it — or at least that’s what a recent NY sports betting report from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office seems to indicate.
The report, released on Wednesday, Nov. 9, outlined enormous gains in New York’s tax revenue since New York sports betting launched in January 2022.
The state has seen over half a billion dollars in tax revenue from mobile sports betting alone. That’s well ahead of what analysts projected when the first mobile sportsbooks were launched. Early estimates wistfully projected that the state might reach $500 million by the end of the year. Well, it’s early November, and New York has already done it.
Another surprise from the report? Major League Baseball accounts for the largest amount of wagers made on a single sport in New York, surpassing both the NBA and the NFL.
Here are the details of New York’s impressive first year.
New York Gains Over Half a Billion in Tax Revenue From Sports Betting
New York has far surpassed the betting handle and tax revenue of every other state with legal sports betting.
The state has seen more than that $13 billion wagered on mobile sports betting platforms, leading to $1.069 billion in gross gaming revenue and a tax revenue gold rush of over $545 million.
And we’re not even done with New York’s first year of legal online betting.
According to GeoComply, a software sportsbooks use to confirm a user’s location, more than 11.3 million unique sports bettors have registered in New York since January.
NY sports betting hit another record in September with the highest amount of mobile sports wagering tax revenue in one month at $73 million. September beat out New York’s previous record of $63 million set in January. The next highest monthly tax revenue amount in any other state? $19 million, set in Pennsylvania in November 2021.
“Since New York entered the mobile sports betting market back in January, we have collected over $500 million in tax revenue,” said Senator Joseph Addabbo, who is the Chair of the Racing, Gaming, and Wagering Committee. “That is an incredible achievement — especially in only a 10-month timespan with only nine operators.”
Of those nine operators, FanDuel Sportsbook has massively outpaced its competitors in the state. The sportsbook surpassed $5 billion in total handling and over half a billion in gross gaming revenue. Here are the top four NY sportsbooks and how they’ve stacked up this year so far, according to the New York State Gaming Commission:
- FanDuel NY: $5,214,808,066
- DraftKings NY: $3,505,725,641
- Caesars Sportsbook NY: $2,383,161,787
- BetMGM NY: $1,115,265,782
MLB Wagers Lead All Other Sports in New York
Major League Baseball was another winner in New York sports betting. Pro baseball took the lead among all approved betting markets with $2.6 billion in wagers this year. The NBA is next with $2.5 billion.
This boost in baseball bets is likely due to both New York teams having a stellar year, despite disappointing finishes. The NY Yankees and NY Mets both made the playoffs, and their two Subway Series matchups were some of the most-watched games of the year.
Of course, the NFL is the most popular sport in America and is only 10 weeks into its season. But so far, the NFL has seen just $1.3 billion in wagers. That number includes the 2022 playoffs, Super Bowl, and the first half of the 2023 season.
College football is at $406 million, including the bowl games earlier this year.
With the rest of the NFL season and the NBA picking up speed, New York’s sports betting tax revenue still has more cash to claim before 2022 is over.
AP Photo/Noah K. Murray