Two smaller US legal sports betting jurisdictions that posted unexpected legal sports betting handle increases in May fell in line with the broader national trend of seasonal slumps after both released their June figures late last week. Both Delaware and Oregon bucked the general national trends of handle slumps in May, but both reported a more typical slide in betting activity for June
Delaware and Oregon are typically two of the first states to report out on their previous months’ sportsbook numbers. Generally, they set the tone for what analysts can expect to see across the broader US scene. The late-week reports could be an ominous sign for a broader US industry that is celebrating the post-COVID return of retail sports betting to their respective jurisdiction
Starting With Delaware
The state of Delaware, one of the smallest legal sports betting markets in the country happens to be one of the few retail-only sports betting jurisdictions. Interestingly, instead of seeing an increase in sports betting handle as COVID restrictions eased, the state posted a handle decrease around the time its citizens began to move more freely among the state and casinos started to see more traffic. Capacity limits in the state’s casinos were officially lifted May 21.
Delaware sportsbooks brought in just $5,958,137 in June, which represents a 15.6% drop from the $7.1 million in May, which seemed to be a bit of an outlier-month for the state’s sports betting scene. May’s totals were 29% higher than April’s $5.5 million. Total sports betting revenues for Delaware were also revealed in the report released Friday. They showed a decline as well, although not as steep as the overall handle. Sportsbooks in the state made $644,366 in June, a 4.9% drop from the $677,441 in profits from May.
Now for Oregon
Oregon is another state that saw unforeseen legal sports betting increases prior to June, contrary to what analysts expected and about 50% of the nation’s legal sports betting jurisdictions experienced. The state’s restrictive and competition-less Lottery-only platform, posted handle increases in the April and May prior to June, when the inevitable slide happened.
On Wednesday, the Oregon Lottery released its June legal sports betting figures, and they revealed a double-digit handle dip. The Oregon sportsbook took in just $24.9 million in June, a 10.4% drop from the $27.8 million spent at the state’s books in May and $10 million off the state’s record of $34.9 million posted in January.
Despite the healthy drop in Oregon’s legal sports betting handle, revenues actually spiked an eye-opening 20.9%, from $2.3 million in May to $2.8 million in June. Basketball led the betting way in June for the Lottery sportsbook, thanks in part to the Trail Blazers postseason hype. Hoops was responsible for $12.9 million of the $24.9 million handle
Both States Will Likely Remain Limited
Both Delaware and Oregon have a couple things in common with respect to their legal sports betting industry. Both have issues around the regulations and philosophy of their platforms and both likely won’t change their way of doing business anytime soon.
Delaware has yet to adopt any sort of mobile sports betting, a platform that is consistently responsible for 80%- 90% of the impressive and unprecedented monthly sports betting handles in competing states. There is no sign of a change in policy and ultimately the launching of any sort of mobile platform in the future.
Oregon has been and continues to be plagued by a single-source Lottery model that has been exposed as one of the least effective models in the broader US scene. Zero sportsbook competition and some uncompetitive odds continue to plague Oregon with no resolution on the horizon. All eyes will be on the bigger legal sports betting jurisdictions as their June reports start to trickle in. Expectations are that they will follow Delaware and Oregon down the rabbit hole, although the Olympics could turn out to be a summer saviour.
Calculators
