New York state legalized mobile sports betting on Jan. 8 of this year. After its first 30 days, the state announced that it counted more than $1.98 billion in wagers.
That figure broke the record for any state’s total mobile wagering handle in an initial launch month.
Total gross gaming revenue was more than $138 million. Gross gaming revenue is what the sports betting operators keep after paying winning bets. With New York’s tax rate of 51% of the gross gaming revenue, tax revenue for the period totaled $70.6 million. State law requires taxes from the industry to go toward education, youth sports programming, property tax relief and problem gambling treatment and prevention services.
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, which will end this March 31, 98% of the taxes will go toward elementary and secondary education, 1% will go toward youth sports programming and 1% will go toward gambling education and treatment.
There were 187 million transactions in total, according to data from GeoComply referenced by the state, shared across more than 1.76 million unique player accounts.
Football was the lead sport, taking in more than $600 million in wagers. Basketball followed with $540 million, and hockey claimed $80 million.
The state’s 2023 Executive Budget predicts $249 million in tax revenue from mobile sports wagers for FY 2022, rising up year by year to a projected $518 million for FY 2027.
