United States
United Kingdom
Sports betting operators in the U.S had a tough time during the COVID-19 shutdown went all sports came to an abrupt halt. However, now that most sporting leagues are back in action, the betting action has reached an all-time high which is showing in the revenues.
The American Gaming Association (AGA) release a report which showed that sports betting revenues created a new record in August 2020. The combined sports betting revenue in August hit $2.1 billion which made it the best month ever till date.
Sportsbooks brought in a total of $119.4 million in revenue which was the second highest month after January 2020 which registered $138 million in revenue.
The AGA pointed out that these figures do not include numbers from Illinois as the state released their revenues a little too late for the report. Illinois had $136.9 million wagered in August and $7.2 million in revenue was held in the state.
New Jersey which was responsible for getting PASPA 1992 overturned was the state with the highest sports betting revenues in the country. The Garden State brought in a whopping $668 million in bets in August while a number of other states including Pennsylvania and West Virgina also reported their best single month hands in August.
When you compare the sports betting revenues during the first 8 months of 2020 to the first 8 months of 2019, you find a 31.5 percent increase while the betting handle went up by 24.1 percent. No surprises that online sports betting was responsible for generating more than 80 percent of revenue and handle in states with mature sports betting markets and up to 90 percent in states which had no land based casinos or restricted land based casinos.
One of the reasons for the boost in sports betting revenue was the resumption of top leagues such as the MLB, NBA and NHL.
Land Based Casinos Struggling
Land based casino operators throughout the country are continuing to struggle as they look to work with strict COVID-19 protocols that prevent them from operating as usual. The combined gross gaming revenue (GGR) from land based casinos in August was $3 billion which is a 19.8 percent declined when compared year-on-year.
The GGR for the first 8 months of 2020 is $17.54 billion which is a 39.4 percent decrease when compared to the first 8 months in 2019.
