Nick Wojcik, analyst at sports data firm LineUps.com brings us the first edition of a regular monthly round up of sports wagering revenue and insights from across the US.
Iowa: $87,169,919
The Hawkeye State hit a record for its betting handle in November, seeing $87.2m in bets. Football has been a big driver, especially Big Ten Football for Iowa, and the state is also slowly seeing an increase in mobile betting as more people are signing-up. Iowa sees a 125% growth rate year-over-year and also saw a 47.5% increase from last month. Revenue hit $8.1m for November, but it is down from $9.1m in October. There is a chance with more mobile betting sign-ups; users are using free bets and sign-up bonuses for their online accounts. Overall, Iowa continues to see growth in the sports betting market.
Indiana: $251,403,994
Indiana released its sports betting report for November, and the numbers continue to impress for the Hoosier State. Indiana reported a betting handle over $250m for November and now needs to see a handle of less than $100m in December to hit $1bn for 2020. Indiana has seen over $200m in bets for three straight months, and December should make it four in a row. The Hoosier State’s adjusted gross revenue hit $25.3m in November, a $4.2m increase from October. 85% of the bets in Indiana are coming in mobile devices. Online sports betting in the state has helped produce record-setting numbers in 2020.
Michigan: $25,080,140
Despite no mobile betting in the Great Lake State, Michigan still managed to bring in $25m in bets for November. This also comes when the state had to shut down sportsbooks and casinos for a second time this year due to spikes in COVID-19 cases. The Detroit sportsbooks brought in $25m when it was only open for 18 days, which shows the demand in Michigan for sports betting. The Great Lake State is planning to launch online sports betting and gaming in early 2021 and see early success. If the November sports betting numbers say anything, Michigan will take off once online wagering is live.
New Jersey: $931,620,415
New Jersey continues to keep dominating the sports betting industry with a betting handle of over $930m for November. The state has broken the largest betting handle four months in a row and now has a chance to break the billion betting handle mark in December. Betting revenue topped the $50m mark for the month, and New Jersey collected $6.2m in taxes. The Garden State also hit the $5bn mark for 2020, which broke a single-year record in the US. This also comes when major US sports were shut down for four months due to COVID-19. New Jersey should finish out 2020 strong and potentially hit the $1bn betting handle mark for the first time.
Mississippi: $54,443,370
While other states see increases in sports betting from October to November, Mississippi saw an 11% decline. Mississippi saw $54.4m wagered in November, which is down from October’s record month of $61.2m. The Hospitality State had $8.1m in revenue, down slightly from $8.8m the previous month. Mississippi only has in-person betting, which could be a partial reason for the decline. The state has 26 locations to wager at, which does help bring in revenue across the state. However, Mississippi is missing out on a much larger betting market with no legal sports betting. This could be an opportunity to expand on it, with states seeing all-time highs in November and Mississippi sees a decline.
Washington DC: $17,600,534
Washington D.C. sports betting is unique compared to other states. The District is one of the few states that sees more money bet in-person compared to mobile betting. In November, Washington D.C. brought in $17.6m in bets, $3.9m from online betting, and $13.7m from in-person betting. GameBet DC is the only mobile betting app in DC and what discourages sports bettors is the juiced lines due to the district having high holds and taxes on sports betting. This brings people into William Hill at Capital One Arena to place bets instead of doing it online. Washington, D.C. had $3,611,200 in revenue, and the district collected $272.8K in taxes from William Hill.
West Virginia: $48,532,442
West Virginia is rebounding from its October revenue dip. The Mountaineer State saw over $48m bets in November and is up from $44.6m in bets in October. However, the state is still down 36.9% from its record month in September when the state saw $76.9m in bets. This is still a nice bounce-back for West Virginia as it tries to reach its record month. The state had $4.4m in revenue collected over $440K in taxes. Mobile betting and in-person betting are about 50-50 in the state, but mobile betting does continue to trend positively. If this continues along with the NBA returning in December, West Virginia should finish the year strong.
