FanDuel is the most popular of the nine mobile sports betting operators in New York, although its rival DraftKings is gaining ground. (Don Cazentre)
The opening weekend of the 2022-2023 National Football League season brought New York its best week for legal online sports bets since last spring.
That’s not surprising, since the NFL is the most bet-on sport in the country. It may also help that the Buffalo Bills are among the favorites to win this year’s Super Bowl.
For New York state, the return of the NFL provides the opportunity to build on the $10 billion in total betting “handle” it has achieved since legal mobile betting began in January.
Bettors placed nearly $330 million in online wagers for the week ending Sept. 11, according to reports filed with the New York Gaming Commission. That was the highest total since the week ending May 8, which produced just under $332 million in wagers. That was at a time when the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League playoffs were still underway.
That’s also reflected in the statewide figures for mobile sports betting’s gross gaming revenue, which is the amount left after winning bets are paid out. For the week ending Sept. 11, the statewide gross gaming revenue was $32.6 million, the highest since it hit $37 million for the week ending May 8.
Legal online sports betting started in New York on Jan. 8, just as the NFL playoffs began. In its first full month, New York set a new record for wagers with $1.6 billion in bets, topping the old record held by New Jersey.
Through last week, New Yorkers had placed $10.7 billion in online bets, and generated gross gaming revenue of $826 million.
New York taxes gross gaming revenues as 51%, by far the highest of any state where online betting is legal. Pennsylvania is second, with a rate of 36%.
For the year so far, that means New York has earned $421.5 million in taxes.
Sports betting has been legal in New York since 2019, but until January could only be done in-person at sportsbooks located inside casinos.
The mobile version, which allows bettors to place wagers via their smartphones or other devices, rolled out in January with four operators — FanDuel, Caesars, DraftKings and BetRivers. Since then, they’ve been joined by BetMGM, PointsBet, WynnBet, Resorts World Bet, and, finally, BallyBet, which started up in July.
For much of the year, FanDuel has been the leader in New York mobile sports handle, followed by DraftKings and Caesar’s. But DraftKings had a huge jump last week, leading Eric Ramsey, lead data analyst for the PlayUSA.com network, to observe on Twitter that it is “suddenly looking like a threat to FanDuel.”
While online sports betting has had a successful year, New York lawmakers could consider changes to the system in the upcoming session.
“I love the position we’re in, but that’s not to say we’re not going to tinker with or at least discuss additional operators, tax rate, whatever it may be, even promotional items,” State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., chair of the Senate’s Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, told Legal Sports Report earlier this month.
Changes could include an adjustment to the tax rate and adding new proposition bets (such as futures bets on awards like league MVPs, Cy Young and Heisman), according to Legal Sports Report’s Mike Mazzeo.
There’s also the possibility the state will allow on-site betting kiosks at stadiums and arenas, such as Highmark Stadium in Orchard park, home of the Buffalo Bills.
Another topic is New York’s current ban on wagers involving in-state college teams, such as Syracuse University. Many states have such bans, including New Jersey, but the question “should also merit discussion,” Mazzeo wrote.
“Any prohibited wagers give bettors the opportunity to wager elsewhere, as in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, with their local bookie or offshore,” Mazzeo wrote.
Related: Sorry, Syracuse fans. You can now bet from your phone, but you still can’t bet on the Orange
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Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.