After one full year of online sports betting, Kentucky bettors were much sharper than last October as the sportsbooks’ hold rate plunged nearly 11% while the handle decreased 4.5%, causing year-over-year revenues to crater.
Sobering October
It was a September to remember for Kentucky sportsbooks in 2024, but only a month later it was an October to forget as the outcomes proved favorable to the bettors and dismal to the sportsbooks. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission reported a September handle of $255.9 million, delivering impressive gross revenues of $34.3 million by the state’s mobile and retail sportsbooks.
However, a month later in October, the handle was only slightly up despite the introduction of the NBA and NHL regular seasons, but the revenues were considerably smaller, courtesy of a much lower hold. October 2024’s $274.9 million handle generated only $18.8 million in gross revenue on a 7.7% hold or win rate. That is nearly half the revenues produced in September, despite a handle that was $19 million higher.
If we compare October 2023, Kentucky’s first full month of sports betting, with October 2024, we will see more disappointing news. The year-over-year handle decreased by 4.5% while revenues tanked a whopping 61.3% from October 2023. Yet, we must consider that the sportsbooks cleaned the customers’ clocks a year ago, as evidenced by the 18.6% hold.
DraftKings Wins Popularity Contest
It’s become a familiar pattern throughout the nation as DraftKings has often overtaken FanDuel in the handle category but always seems to fall short in the revenue department due to a consistently lower hold than its archrival.
And so, the familiar song played again in the Bluegrass State with DraftKings generating the highest handle, $102.7 million, in October and became the first Kentucky sportsbook to accept over $1 billion in wagers since launching a year ago. Revenues, however, did not top the leaderboard, as the Boston-based bookmaker reported $8.2 million in profits, which was second only to FanDuel.
Speaking of which, FanDuel took second in October’s popularity contest with a reported handle of $92.3 million but led the pack in revenues with $9.8 million due to its 10.6% hold, the best of the bunch in October.
In the third spot came bet365 with $24.5 million in monthly sales, producing $1.3 million in revenue, followed by BetMGM, which accepted $13.1 million in wagers, generating $684,350 in revenues.
The iconic Las Vegas-based brand Caesars posted $11.5 million in wagers, which delivered only $389,326 in monthly profits due to a dismal 3.4% hold, while Fanatics Sportsbooks handled $9.6 million in bets, generating $556,786 in profits.
ESPN BET and Circa Sports rounded out the bottom two spots, with the former posting a $6.5 million handle while the latter accepted $5 million in sports bets but, due to a negative hold, sustained losses of nearly $200,000.
Bullish on sports betting
Despite a less-than-stellar October, the Kentucky legislature is bullish on sports betting, and Governor Andy Beshear recently remarked:
“The first year of sports betting was hugely successful, and it exceeded all expectations.”
“For fiscal year 2024, sports wagering beat all odds by bringing in $37.2 million in revenue from sports wagering, taxes, and licensing fees. In July, driven by interest in the summer Olympics, the trend continued, generating an additional $2 million in state tax revenue and bringing us close to $40 million in revenue through July. With one year of data, we can see some initial trends,” Beshear added.
