The post Louisiana Posts Record $356 Million Sports Wagering Handle For November appeared first on SportsHandle.

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board reported a record monthly sports wagering handle of $356.5 million for November on Wednesday as promotional spending ramped up with the launch of ESPN BET and the entrance of bet365.

The online handle of $322.9 million in November was enough on its own to better October’s mark of $308.6 million and marked the first time wagering through mobile betting apps topped $300 million. Louisiana‘s 18 retail sportsbooks handled $33.5 million, the second-highest total of 2023 behind January’s $37 million-plus.

The house had a collective hold of 8.2%, its lowest of the year, resulting in $29.3 million in gross revenue. That still represented a dramatic turnaround of $54.6 million to the positive from the previous November, when Caesars, WynnBET, and since-rebranded Barstool Sportsbook all made multimillion-dollar payouts to Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale after he cashed $58.7 million worth of winning Houston Astros futures tickets.

Louisiana’s minus $25.3 million in gross revenue in November 2022 remains the single biggest all-time monthly loss for a state since sports betting expanded beyond Nevada in 2018. The positive swing this November has sent year-over-year revenue totals surging. The $310.2 million in gross revenue heading into the final month of 2023 is up 75.8% compared to last year, while adjusted gross revenue is 83.9% higher to nearly $278.3 million.

The state collected more than $3.2 million in taxes in November, and the $36.2 million raised this year is running $6.7 million ahead of last year’s pace.

A resurgence in promotional spend

The LGCB does not provide operator handle and revenue figures, but it does provide an overall snapshot of promotional spend by operators. Mobile sportsbooks are limited to a $5 million spend annually, occasionally leading to judicious and targeted use.

The $9.9 million outlay in November was the most since the $10 million-plus in February 2022, which coincided with the first time Louisiana bettors could wager on the Super Bowl. The launch of ESPN BET and bet365’s debut likely account for a majority of that spend, though FanDuel and DraftKings are expected to have provided notable amounts, given they have done so elsewhere to counter ESPN BET’s aggressive national entry in mid-November.

The $5 million annual limit poses an interesting twist for bet365, which has shown little restraint when launching elsewhere prior to accepting its first Louisiana bets Nov. 21. The England-based sportsbook lavished more than $21 million in credits to Kentucky bettors during the first five weeks of mobile action in September and October and has a $23.8 million outlay in Virginia heading into the final month of its first year in the Old Dominion.

When a $1.6 million loss isn’t all that bad

Running NOVEMBER Top 10 #SportsBetting handles by state:

1 New York $2.12B
2 New Jersey $1.62B
3 Penn. $934.1M
4 Mass. $654.4M
5 Michigan $584.1M
6 Maryland $550.7M
7 Tenn. $515.5M
8 Indiana $513.7M
9 LOUISIANA $356.5M
10 Iowa ~$289.7M#sportsbettingtwitter #GamblingTwitter

— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) December 20, 2023

The LGCB provides revenue figures only by sport, and while “Mattress Mack” was not a big winner this year, there were plenty of people who were when it came to baseball. Operators paid out nearly $1.6 million above the amount of accepted wagers in November. Collectively, it was their biggest loss of the calendar year but far less than the $60.7 million in losses incurred the previous November.

Parlay winnings accounted for the biggest share of operator revenue at close to $13.7 million, but that was less than half the record $27.4 million from October. The $176 million in 2023 parlay winnings for the house is nearly $25 million more than the full-year 2022 total.

Football and basketball winnings totaled $9.1 million combined, while the catch-all “other” category, which is comprised of golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, and motorsports in Louisiana, accounted for $1.4 million. The house came out more than $688,000 ahead in soccer, more than three times what they cleared in October.

Year-to-date handle surpassed $2.5 billion with November’s numbers and is up 23.2% versus the first 11 months of last year. Total handle in the Pelican State since launch is about $102 million shy of $5 billion.

The post Louisiana Posts Record $356 Million Sports Wagering Handle For November appeared first on SportsHandle.