Louisiana has been experiencing huge swings in its sports betting financial numbers the last few months.
For June, Louisiana sportsbooks, both online and retail, saw revenues of about $10.7 million, a drop of 57.7% from May when revenues spiked to about $25.3 million. The May revenue showing was itself a rebound from a poor April when revenues slumped badly to $5.5 million.
The month-to-month revenue difference from May to June coincided with a substantial difference in hold percentages.
Louisiana is bordered by states with legal sports betting to the north (Arkansas) and east (Mississippi). Texas sports betting isn’t legal, but Louisiana to the east has legal online and retail sports wagering.
In June in Louisiana, the $10.7 million in revenue came off a total handle of $132.4 million, or a hold of about 8%, which is in line with the traditional hold norms in the sports wagering industry. In contrast, the Louisiana’s sportsbooks enjoyed a relatively high hold percentage of nearly 16% in May. Back in April, when the sportsbooks posted much lower revenue numbers, that revenue outcome was accompanied by an extremely low hold of 1.8%
As mentioned, the total handle for online and retail combined in June was about $132.4 million, which was down 22.6% from May ($171,135,819). The drop in handle mirrors other sports gambling jurisdictions as bettor enthusiasm drops off when the primary sport to wager on is baseball.
Needless to say, sportsbook operators nationwide are eagerly awaiting the start of the NFL and college football seasons.
Louisiana Sports Betting, June vs. May
Mobile Rules in Louisiana
As usual, the breakdown of the sports betting action shows that gamblers prefer the convenience of online sports wagering.
Of the total handle, $113.7 million of the wagering was done online as opposed to just $18.7 million that was done in-person at retail sportsbooks. The online action represented nearly 86% of the state’s total sports betting handle.
The big decline in sports betting revenue showed up in tax collections. For June, sportsbooks contributed $1.42 million in taxes, a decrease of about 48.1% from May’s $2.76 million.
