The New York Yankees have taken control of the American League East, while the New York Mets are demolishing it in the National League East. Sportsbooks continue to take bets at an unrivaled rate, as the New York Yankees and New York Mets dominate their respective divisions.
The New York State Gaming Commission recently released online sports betting figures for the week ending May 8. The report showed the state’s mobile bookmakers accepted $331.7 million in bets and registered gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $37 million — their second-highest weekly haul since online legal sports betting in the state in January.
The online bookmakers also bounced back in Week 13, with a $36.6-million increase in handle and a $25-million gain in GGR after last week’s all-time low of $12.9 million in income.
How the big four performed
Both handle and GGR rose across FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Caesars for the second week. After seeing these gains, the previous week’s underwhelming numbers looked like an outlier.
The third week of play for both DFS platforms was a big week for FanDuel. Not only did its handle grow by $10 million to $145.1 million, but GGR increased by a dime to $19.4 million as well. Meanwhile, DraftKings received an additional $14 million in wagers than the previous week, raising its handle to $78.9 million and GGR to $8.7 million — the bookmaker’s best revenue week in over two months since July 2017.
In the past, betting sites have turned to crypto exchanges to receive more of their potential fair market revenue. BetMGM, for example, has a handle of $31.3 million for the period ending on May 8. The firm recovered from its previous week’s all-time low GGR of $12,682 by generating $2.4 million.
Could the New York market expand?
While Bally Bet, the State’s ninth legal operator, has yet to go live, a bill proposed by New York State Assemblymember J. Gary Pretlow, in March, seeks to increase the number of authorized sportsbooks in New York from nine to 16 by 2024.
Pretlow’s proposal is currently with the Assembly Standing Committee on Racing and Wagering. No vote has been scheduled yet, but if passed, it would need to be approved by the State Senate and Governor Andrew Cuomo before becoming law.
