New York’s sports betting market saw revenue increase by 75.7% year-on-year in January.
According to the latest figures from the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) gross gaming revenue from sports betting operations in January 2021 amounted to $3.3m.
January’s revenue marks a significant increase on the $1.9m generated the same time last year and the $2.3m generated in December 2020.
The New York State Gaming Commission does not include sports betting handle in its reports, instead, it only displays sportsbook revenue.
How each venue performed
Rush Street’s Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady continued to lead the market in January after generating $1.4m in revenue. This marks an increase on the $949,804 generated the month prior.
The del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo and its DraftKings-branded sportsbook took second place after generating $1.3m in revenue. The licensees’ January revenue was up from the $922,718 generated in December.
Resorts World Catskills took third place after generating $479,557 in revenue while Tioga Downs Casino and its FanDuel-branded sportsbook took fourth place with $390,346 in revenue.
Sports betting in New York
The Empire State legalized land-based sports wagering through the 2013 New York Economic Gaming Act. The passage of this law allowed four upstate casinos in New York to offer sports betting if the federal law prohibiting the activity was amended or overturned.
New York launched legal and regulated sports betting in July 2019, with the opening of the sportsbook at the Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady.
Last month, during New York’s State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo came out in support of legalising mobile sports betting in New York. Cuomo consistently opposed the legalisation of mobile betting in past years and argued that the state would need a constitutional amendment to legalise the activity.
However, as the state of New York is in dire financial straits as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo hopes that the legalisation of online sports betting could help generate new tax revenue for the Empire State.
Online betting could boost the market
Last month, Spectrum Gaming Group published its study on the expansion of gambling operations in the state of New York and suggests that mobile sports betting in the Empire State could generate between $816m and $1.14bn in annual gross gaming revenue.
The report was originally commissioned by the New York State Gaming Commission in 2019 and was scheduled to be delivered in December 2019. However, the study was pushed back to June 2020 before being delayed indefinitely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
