The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has confirmed that online sportsbooks in the state raked in a handle of well over $211 million in February.
February was the first full month of legal online gambling in Louisiana, which opened its regulated market on January 28. Retail sports betting was launched in the state back in October 2021.
Penn National Gaming and its Barstool Sportsbook, Caesars, DraftKings, Rush Street Interactive and its BetRivers Sportsbook, and Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel Group in partnership with Boyd Gaming were the high-profile betting brands that went live in the southern state following the January launch of sports betting.
January’s handle ended up being $40 million over the final four days of the month. That initial enthusiasm from bettors in the state was then more than matched by the $211 million wagered during online betting’s first full month of legality.
Online betting revenues dwarf retail betting revenues in Louisiana in February
Online betting operators generated $16.7m of revenue in February, meaning that the state received $2.2 million in taxation receipts.
The Pelican State’s retail betting outlets did not enjoy such dramatic revenue rises, however. They took only $27.4m in their February handle. The deregulation of online betting therefore clearly had an effect on retail betting revenues.
Retail betting operators in Louisiana took only $642,663 in revenue in February, compared to the $5.3 million in January. This generated only $65,684 in tax receipts for the state. This was the retail sector’s lowest ever handle in Louisiana.
The 13 retail betting operators in the state fared much better before online sports betting became available, with them generating $5.6 million of revenue in November.
Combining retail and online sports betting handles, however, makes the situation appear much healthier, with a total handle of $238.4 million from both forms of betting. That figure generated revenue of $17.3 million, with the state receiving tax of $2.28 million from it.
This was also the first year in which online sports betting has been allowed on the Super Bowl in the USA. This perhaps helps to explain why American football was the most popular sport with bettors in Louisiana during February.
NFL betting remains king in the Pelican State
In terms of the betting revenue collected by operators, $9.8 million was bet on football. That was almost twice as much as basketball, which brought in $5.1 million of revenue. Earnings generated by parlay betting ended up being $4.4 million. Interestingly, betting on soccer produced a revenue loss of $248,383.
Louisiana mobile sports betting has therefore got off to a successful and lucrative beginning, setting the foundation for what will surely be a massive expansion in revenue in the coming years.
Observers expect the betting revenue generated in Louisiana to grow quickly in the coming months and years. When the market has developed fully, experts anticipate that the Pelican State to generate a total handle of around $1 billion. That would create revenue of around $200 million, with activities such as virtual sports betting sure to become more popular too.
