New Yorkers love to bet on March Madness.
With the NCAA Tournament kicking off in wild fashion, as usual, NY online sports betting operators combined for $428 million in handle for the week of March 14-20.
By comparison, NY online sports betting operators combined for $472.1 million the week of the Super Bowl (Feb. 7-13).
Overall, total tax revenue from NY online sports betting handle (Jan. 8-March 20) is $153.3 million (at 51%) off $300.6 million in total gross gaming revenue and $4.35 billion in handle.
New York has now gone over $1 billion in online sports betting handle in each of its first three months in business:
- January 2022: $1.67 billion
- February 2022: $1.53 billion
- March 2022, so far: $1.15 billion
FanDuel NY ($168 million in bets during the week of March 14-20) and DraftKings NY ($110.8 million) have been Nos. 1 and 2 in handle for the last seven weeks. Over that span, FanDuel (38.7%), DraftKings (25.5%), Caesars (19.3%) and BetMGM (10.1%) have combined for 93.6% of the market share.
NY sports betting, post-Super Bowl
Here’s how the eight NY betting apps performed during the week ending March 20:
| NY Online Sportsbook | Handle | Gross Gaming Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| FanDuel Sportsbook | $167,953,379 | $14,665,422 |
| DraftKings Sportsbook | $110,841,556 | $3,311,251 |
| BetMGM Sportsbook | $43,007,730 | $1,589,234 |
| Caesars Sportsbook | $67,758,590 | $4,352,538 |
| PointsBet Sportsbook | $23,970,604 | $1,100,430 |
| BetRivers Sportsbook | $10,950,091 | $718,167 |
| Resorts WorldBet | $1,240,084 | $95,942 |
| WynnBet Sportsbook | $2,249,686 | $223,775 |
New York online sportsbooks combined for $472.1 million in handle during Super Bowl week. As for the week leading up to the NCAA Tournament, NY sports betting apps combined for $406.4 million.
Colgate was the only NY team to qualify for the Big Dance. New York bettors were unable to bet on NY college teams due to state regulations.
Highlights of March Madness
Many looked forward to this year’s NCAA Tournament. Not only because of the parity it was sure to bring, but also because it would be the first March Madness tourney to welcome fans since 2019.
And the tournament certainly did not disappoint the first week. Start with the First Four in Dayton, which tipped off March 15 and featured a double-overtime thriller between Notre Dame and Rutgers, won by the Irish to claim the No. 11 seed in the West Region.
Then, as per usual, the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament featured its fair share of upsets that no doubt had folks ripping up their brackets. Of course, there were two games in Buffalo that saw No. 12 Richmond upsetting Big Ten champ No. 5 Iowa and No. 12 New Mexico State putting away No. 5 UConn.
There were also instant classics, like No. 7 Murray State outlasting the 36-point output from Jamaree Bouyea and No. 10 San Francisco in overtime. Don’t forget about No. 9 Creighton edging No. 8 San Diego State in overtime. And, of course, No. 8 North Carolina blew a 25-point second-half lead before holding off top-seeded Baylor in OT.
But the madness of the first two rounds could be mentioned without highlighting No. 15 Saint Peter’s, which upset popular national champion pick Kentucky in the first round.
Many favorites to win the national championship didn’t make it past the first weekend. For example, of the top 10 teams, DraftKings Sportsbook took bets on nationally to win the title, only five teams made it to the Sweet 16.
