October was a strong month for regulated sports betting operators in Louisiana, judging by details released by the gambling regulator in the state. Last month marked the highest betting handle since the launch of mobile sports betting in the state.
Sports Betting Handle Hits $219M in October
The gambling regulator in Louisiana, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, released its latest report outlining the performance of sports betting licensees in October. Overall, the betting handle last month hit $219 million, setting a new record for since the introduction of sports betting in the state.
The result from October, compared to the result a month earlier, in September, when the betting handle halted at $176 million, marked an increase of more than 24%. The $219 million in betting handle reported in October was the highest betting handle in the last six months. What’s more the result from last month even surpassed the previous $211 million betting handle record set in February.
Louisiana was one of the many US states to legalize sports betting last year. In October, the state launched its retail market, but the mobile betting market launched a few months later, on January 28 this year. This means that February was the first full month of mobile betting action and it’s no surprise that the betting handle hit a record for the period. However, the market continues to grow, considering that last month, a new betting handle record was set.
Mobile Betting Brings Tax Revenue to the State
A breakdown provided by the gambling regulator in Louisiana reveals that the $219 million in betting handle translates to $25,972,067 in net proceeds. On the other hand, taxes from sports betting in October were $3,894,853.
Although the betting handle last month completely surpassed the betting handle reported in September, this wasn’t the case for net proceeds. In total, for September there was $27.1 million reported in net proceeds, which was higher than the $26 million result from October. Taxes collected in September were $3.4 million, which was close to the $3,9 million reported last month.
Still, when the results from October are compared to February when the first betting handle record was set, the net proceeds and taxes last month were significantly higher. Back in February, $16.7 million were reported in net proceeds and $2.3 million were the collected taxes. With that in mind, this isn’t unexpected, considering that deductions for promotions in February were $10 million, while in October, they amounted to only $450,440.
Since the introduction of mobile betting in January, to date, the betting handle in Louisiana has hit $610.4 million. Nearly $80 million was reported in net proceeds since the launch of mobile sports betting, while the state collected $11.2 million in tax revenue.