Mobile sports betting in Louisiana is in its second full year, and the data shows that online gaming platforms are becoming more popular. July’s numbers showed another year-over-year increase, although the handle was down from the previous month.
Betting on the Bayou
According to a report released by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the sports betting handle took a 15.8% tumble in July from the previous month but, surprisingly, revenue soared 40% due to an impressive 13.1% hold, or win rate, which was more than five points higher than June’s.
When the dust settled, Louisiana sportsbooks accepted $134.8 million in wagers that generated $17.5 million in revenue, which in turn delivered $2.2 million in taxes.
Mobile betting accounted for the vast majority of the sports betting action, as it routinely does in all other states, with $122 million of the $134.8 million in sports bets placed digitally. That revealed an 18.6% increase in online betting from July 2022, while retail sportsbooks saw their numbers drop 19.4% from the previous July.
However, due to the brick-and-mortar books’ impressive win rate of over 15% in July, the adjusted revenue topped $1.9 million.
Overall Good Numbers
Since its inception in January 2022, Louisiana sports bettors have wagered nearly $4 billion, which has produced north of $400 million in gross revenue.
Sports betting in Louisiana has been an unequivocal success, and earlier this year Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns reflected on the first full year of mobile sports betting.
“We could not be more pleased with the first year, we’ve had virtually no problems,” Johns said. “Obviously you want your numbers to be good for it to be successful, and it has. But as a regulator, first and foremost, you want things to go smooth and compliant and we’ve had no problems.”
Parlays Bookies Best Friend
If you have ever wondered why so many online sportsbooks “generously” give odds boosts on their hand-picked parlays, it’s because those exotic wagers are the industry’s cash cows.
Parlay betting gives the books an enormous advantage, as evidenced by the $10.7 million in revenue generated sheerly off of parlays last month in the Pelican State that accounted for a whopping 59% of the entire revenue for July. That number even surpassed June’s $9.8 million of parlay-generated revenue.
A dearth of sports betting options allows Major League Baseball to steal the spotlight, as it brought in $2.9 million in revenue while soccer trailed with $664,000, followed by basketball’s $500,000.
Texas Comes Calling
We should also point out that Louisiana draws sports bettors from Texas, a state that is currently without regulated and licensed retail and mobile sportsbooks. One of them happens to be the legendary Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, a furniture store magnate who places enormous bets as promotions for his business. If his World Series or Super Bowl bet wins, the customers will get their furniture free if purchased within the promotional period. If not, so sad too bad, but at least everyone has some skin in the game.
“Mattress Mack has played a huge part in just keeping interest up,” Johns said. “His World Series bet was historical. That $75 million he won, I’ve identified $52 million came from Louisiana.
“He lost $9.5 million on the Super Bowl, $3 million on the college championship. So he’s giving some of it back already. He’s an interesting guy, but he’s promoting all that through his furniture sales.”
Calculators
