Historic Sports Betting Week for New York and DraftKings

The second week of May proved to be a busy period for licensed sports betting operators in New York, data released by the gambling regulator, the New York Gaming Commission, reveals. Besides a busy period, the week that ended May 12 enabled DraftKings to set a new weekly revenue record.

Previously, FanDuel held the revenue record after reporting $33.4 million in betting revenue for the week ending January 14, 2024. However, the operator’s record was smashed by DraftKings with the company reporting $36.5 million for the week ended May 12.

The recently reported mobile sports betting revenue by DraftKings wasn’t only a new record for the state. The figure marked the best result for the operator since the launch of legal sports wagering in the Empire State.

Focusing on the bigger picture, licensed betting operators cumulatively set a new weekly mobile betting revenue record for the week ended May 12. In total, mobile betting revenue soared to $70.9 million, a figure that was approximately $4 million more than the previous $67.3 million record set for the week ended January 14, 2024.

The $70.9 million in mobile sports wagering revenue came after a whopping $532.3 million betting handle was reported for the week ended May 12. This marked the second-highest weekly betting handle result for the year so far, surpassed only by the $539.6 million handle reported for the week ended March 24 this year. In contrast, although the betting handle for the week ended on March 24 was higher, the revenue at the time was only $31.2 million, a result that was more than two times lower than the $70.9 million figure reported recently.

FanDuel Reports the Second Highest Handle, Revenue

Undoubtedly, the playoffs of the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks contributed toward the soaring handle and mobile wagering revenue reported recently.

Amid the planned expansion of casino gambling in the Empire State, lawmakers anticipate accelerating the process by requiring all interested parties to submit a casino license bid by July 31, 2024. On the other hand, approval from the gambling regulator of the licenses would be expected by March 31, 2025.

The recently released betting handle and revenue results signal that the monthly performance is likely also going to be strong as well.

While DraftKings emerged with the highest weekly result recently, FanDuel followed closely. For the week ended May 12, the operator reported $199.1 million in sports betting handle. This brought the operator nearly $26.9 million in betting revenue.

Although that was the second-highest result, there’s a notable difference of approximately $10 million when compared to DraftKings’ figure. This is because DraftKings posted an exceptionally high hold of 15.8%.