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New York sports betting slumps amid MLB All-Star break
The MLB All-Star break is the main culprit for the weakest week in 11 months, but overall New York is doing just fine.
The nation’s top sports betting market had its worst week in nearly a year last week, according to data released by the New York Gaming Commission.
New York had a betting handle totaling $224.6 million for the week spanning July 15 to July 21. That’s the lowest handle New York has seen in a week since August 2023. New York’s sports betting revenue generated for the week was just $25.1 million. It’s just the second time in the last 11 weeks that New York failed to crack $30 million in revenue.
Overall, the betting handle dropped 26% compared to the previous week, while revenue dropped nearly 27%.
MLB All-Star break is to blame
The summer months are always the slowest months of the sports calendar because the NFL, NBA and NHL are all in their offseasons. Sportsbook operators rely on baseball to carry the weight through the summer months. MLB isn’t nearly as popular to bet on as the NFL, NBA, or college football and basketball, which explains the lighter numbers in the summer.
However, the week of July 15-21 marked a unique week. For most of the week, sports bettors didn’t have any professional sports to bet on as the MLB was in its all-star break. The league didn’t schedule games between Monday and Thursday. The Home Run Derby was held on Monday and the All-Star Game itself was held on Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday offered few options for bettors.
The league returned from its all-star break on Friday, July 19. While that wasn’t enough time to save the week, it should spark a return to normalcy in coming weeks. In addition, the Summer Olympics offer bettors another wagering opportunity that we aren’t accustomed to seeing at this time of the year.
Both the Yankees and the Mets are right in the thick of playoff races, so MLB betting in New York should be strong. As the weather gets colder, the games heat up. In addition, we’re about a month from the start of the NFL season. New York has almost survived the slowest part of the sports calendar.
New York continues to dominate
While the annual downturn is underway for the summer months, New York remains the most impressive betting market in the country.
Through 29 weeks of 2024, New York has taken in over $12 billion worth of sports betting handle. The nine licensed operators in the state have generated over $1.1 billion in revenue, and the state has collected over $570 million in tax revenue. These numbers are all significant improvements from 2023. Through the first 29 weeks of 2023, New York had a betting handle of $9.7 billion, revenue of $888 million and $453 million in tax revenue.
| Category | 2023 | 2024 | Increase |
| Betting Handle | $9.7 billion | $12.1 billion | 24.7% |
| Operator Revenue | $888 million | $1.1 billion | 23.9% |
| Tax Revenue | $453 million | $575 million | 26.9% |
For 2024, New York is on pace to accept $23.7 billion worth of sports betting handle. This would be a sizable improvement over the $19 billion handle the state posted in 2023 and it would shatter the single-year betting handle record for the entire country, which New York already owns.
The state’s operators are on pace to gross $2.15 billion in revenue for the year and the state is poised to earn nearly $1.1 billion in tax revenue. In 2023, the state’s nine sportsbooks generated $1.7 billion in revenue while the state collected $870 million in tax payments from the operators.
While it may have been a slow week for New York, there’s no cause for long-term concern.