Louisiana Sports Wagering Handle Up in August While Revenue Drops
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Louisiana sports betting saw a successful month of August after a slow summer so far. The state had an 8.4% increase in sports betting handle from July to August, with a few different factors to point to. August sees the return of the NFL preseason which, while not nearly as popular as regular season pro football betting, still attracts some wagers at the sportsbooks.
Plus, with the MLB season getting closer to the postseason and the playoff competition heating up, it makes sense that more wagers were placed throughout August. Let’s take a deeper look at the successful August for Louisiana sports wagering.
Louisiana Sports Betting Makes An August Comeback
For five straight months, the state of Louisiana saw diminishing sports betting handle numbers. However, that all turned around in August, when Louisiana sports bettors placed $128.2 million worth of bets on different sporting events. This is up 8.4% from the previous month, in which sports bettors placed a total of $118.3 million.
As you’d expect, retail sports betting isn’t as popular in the Bayou State as the more convenient mobile sports betting option. According to Gambling News, online sports betting accounted for $112.1 million of the monthly handle, an 8.5% increase from the last month. Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks brought in approximately $16.2 million in August. This is a 6.7% increase from July, where $15.2 million was wagered at retail sportsbooks.
The state is home to plenty of physical sportsbooks, such as the FanDuel Sportsbook at Amelia Belle Casino, the DraftKings Sportsbook at Golden Nugget Lake Charles, and Barstool Sportsbook at Boomtown Bossier City Casino. Additionally, new Caesars Sportsbooks have recently opened up at Horseshoe Bossier City and Harrah’s Casino New Orleans.
BREAKING: Louisiana’s seven mobile bookmakers received $112M in bets in August. Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns says the state’s retail and mobile sports-betting operators have accepted $1.4B in bets since retail fully began in November and mobile in January.
— Larry Henry (@NEWSLarryHenry) September 15, 2022
Louisiana Betting Revenue Sees Big Decline
Although the overall amount of bets in Louisiana was up for the month of August, the revenue saw a significant dip. While July brought in $19.2 million in online sports betting revenue, that number was down 62% in August with a total of $7.3 million.
While that’s a harsh decline, one positive note is the increase in retail sportsbook revenue, which is up to $2.2 million in August after $1.6 million in July.
Geolocation volumes shot up 71.5% from 60.1m in 2021 to a record 103.1m for NFL opening weekend 2022, according to GeoComply sports betting statistics released today; Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana & New York have all started taking mobile bets since last year's opener
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) September 12, 2022
Is Lower Revenue Cause for Concern?
While a 62% drop in revenue is certainly a red flag, the future is expected to be a bit brighter for Louisiana sports betting. The NFL regular season just kicked off, which is notoriously one of the best times to place bets on sporting events. This will translate to a bigger handle, as well as possibly higher revenue. While the betting numbers aren’t back on that first pro football weekend, we do know that there was a 71% increase in the amount of mobile sportsbook logins for the Week 1 NFL games.
Considering that this is the first NFL kickoff with legal online sports betting in Louisiana, it’s fairly clear that the state was partially responsible for the high number of logins. Plus, the state is home to dedicated fanbases for local football teams like the New Orleans Saints and LSU Tigers.
