NY Experienced Drop in March Madness Handle Sports Betting

NY Experienced Drop in March Madness Handle After First Week

By Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief Updated: 13 April 2022

Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief

Blake Roberts is the founder of Betting.US and is currently heading the creative team as Editor in Chief. Born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Blake is a great sports fan, with football and basketball being his favorite. He’s our trusted voice for all betting-related matters.

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It has been revealed that the online sports betting handle in New York dropped sharply after the first week of March Madness.

Many were wondering whether the excitement of the event had worn off after figures showed that handle had fallen by more than $100 million between the first and second weeks of March Madness. This reflected a drop of 23 percent compared to the first week.

Since launching mobile sports betting in January, New York has enjoyed huge success and has managed to break records. This meant that many had high expectations for March Madness.

However, while there were no issues in the first week, the second week saw a handle of just under $328 million, which was the lowest total for a full week since the launch in early January.

Still a Great Boon to the State

Officials have been quick to point out that despite the drop in weekly handle during March Madness, mobile sports betting is still proving to be a huge boon to the state.

In terms of finances, New York state collected more than $160 million in tax revenue between the launch date and the 27th of March. This came from a total sports betting handle of $4.68 billion in the same period.

However, many have been speculating as to why there has been such a dip between the first and second weeks of March Madness. Some believe it may be down to there being fewer games to bet on. Others have said that it is down to the continued decline in promotional spending among sportsbook operators.

Of course, the Empire State still has to contend with the traditional summer slowdown that lies ahead, and this will be its first experience with this in terms of sports betting. Many are interested to see how mobile operators in the state will handle this slower period and how well New York’s mobile sports betting market will perform over the coming months.

Like other gambling states around the country, New York will have to suffer the slowdown until football season begins again. However, operators in other states have found many different activities to take bets on during the slower period, and it is likely that the operators in New York will follow suit.

Operators in New York Still Unhappy About Tax Rate

On a separate note, sportsbook operators in New York are still unhappy about the level of tax they must pay. However, this was what they signed up for, which means that they are unlikely to see the rate being lowered.

According to a report from PlayNY:

Sportsbooks have been open about their disdain for the 51% tax rate as it relates to long-term sustainability and profitability in NY. But the state’s position has been that they knew what they were signing up for when they were granted licenses.

The high tax rate has obviously been very profitable for the state, hence the huge tax revenues collected in just a few months of mobile sports betting in New York.