Louisiana Sports Betting Hits Record $255.5m in Handle for October

It was a mixed bag of results for Louisiana’s sports betting and casino operators in October. The former reported a 23.1% month-over-month increase, while the latter saw a slight decrease last month compared to September.

Louisiana sportsbooks took in $255,528,321 in wagers during the 10th month of the year, up from $207,501,595 in the September Louisiana sports betting report. That was a record for the state, which launched mobile sports wagering in January.

The old mark for sports wagering handle in a month in the Bayou State was $238.4 million in February, the first full month with online sportsbook options.

The operators also saw the retail handle climb 15.8%, from $31,522,111 in September to $36,487,715 in October.

As far as other revenue figures are concerned, Louisiana sportsbooks saw wagering revenues fall 5.2% month-over-month (from $31,894,674 in September to $30,243,842 in October), while taxes from wagering climbed 11.2%, month-over-month, from $3,870,435 to $4,305,414.

As for physical casinos, their revenue declined 3.8% compared to December in a state where regulated iGaming such as online roulette, slots and card games are not available.

So far, Louisiana’s October sports betting handle ranks seventh out of 19 markets that have reported their wagering data for the month.

The Pelican State ranks behind New York ($1.555B), New Jersey ($1.060B), Pennsylvania ($797.124M), Michigan ($504.336M), Indiana ($446.248M), and Tennessee ($405.337M) to this point. Louisiana sportsbooks finished October ahead of industry stalwarts such as Iowa ($238.788M) and the newest state with live online sports betting, Kansas ($189.919M).

The state’s sports betting scene should only climb from here, as the Saints approach the final portion of their season for NFL betting. Also of great interest in the Bayou State, the LSU Tigers are preparing for football’s SEC Championship Game against Georgia and perhaps a chance at the College Football Playoff. 

Louisiana’s retail casinos weren’t quite as fortunate as their sports wagering brethren during the month of October, with revenues falling 3.8%, month-over-month.

Six states have the best online casino options but not Louisiana.

In total, Louisiana’s casinos raked in $241,998,013 in revenue during October, which fell from the $251,539,110 the facilities reported in September.

The decline during October is the sixth month-over-month decline of 2022 for the facilities, with February (up 5.7% from January), March (up 12.8% from February), July (up 2.2% from June), and September (up 3.2% from August) being the outliers so far. The state’s physical casinos, racetracks and video gaming machines are the top non-sports options without mobile casinos being legal in Louisiana.

During October, the facilities cashed in on $130,990,774 in revenue from riverboat casinos, $62,967,456 from video gaming, $25,695,488 from “racinos”, and another $22,344,295 from land casinos, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board reported.

As we enter the home stretch of the 2022 calendar, operators at Louisiana’s sportsbooks and casinos will be looking for disparate returns — with the former hoping to cash in on their recent string of good fortunes while the latter look to right the ship after a dip.

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