FanDuel has returned to the top of the tree in New York after big rival DraftKings surpassed the Flutter brand in terms of market share for three of four weeks in May. Since Flutter began trading on the NYSE, its performance has been closely watched by industry analysts.
The latest figures from the New York State Gaming Commission for week ending June 2 reveal all nine licensed sportsbooks achieved a combined handle of $333.4 million during the seven days, the lowest since late March 2023.
As a result, revenue also fell to $30.2 million, more than 50% lower than a record-breaking $70.9 million for week ending May 12. The hold rate of 8.79% achieved in the week to June 2 was a touch below its 9% average for the previous 12 months.
DraftKings had achieved a market share above 40% for three weeks in late April through to mid-May, a level the sportsbook had not enjoyed since December last year. However, FanDuel re-established its dominance as June began taking 40.6% of all dollars staked on sports in New York compared to 35.2% for DraftKings.
FanDuel’s performance remains all the more impressive due to its consistently high hold rates. With an average of 10.75% of handle retained as revenue so far this year, FanDuel achieved double-digit hold rates in each of the five weeks to June 2. A figure of 15.1% for week ending May 19 was its best so far in 2024.
Notable also, DraftKings held 15.8% of its $231.5 handle for week to May 12 which was its fourth-best week for hold ever. The revenue figure of $36.5 million earned off that hold ratio was the highest DraftKings has achieved in New York to date.
While the two top sportsbooks in New York remain unchanged and are still a considerable way ahead of the rest of the field, there are some other notable trends to observe.
The most obvious has already been mentioned - FanDuel’s ability to retain more dollars staked compared to winnings paid out. Related to this remains the inability of some of the smaller sportsbooks to achieve hold rates on par anywhere near their bigger competitors.
Overall though, with one exception explored further below, the New York sports betting market remains fairly static. Likely demonstrating the reluctance of sports bettors to move between betting operators and the difficulty of gaining new customers, the table positions of each of the nine have moved little since mobile wagering was legalized in the Empire State.
Operator | Average Market Share (Handle) for 2024 | Market Share for Week Ending June 2 | Average Hold Rate (GGR/Handle) for 2024 | Hold Rate for Week Ending June 2 |
FanDuel | 41.1% | 40.6% | 10.8% | 12.0% |
DraftKings | 36.1% | 35.2% | 9.0% | 6.7% |
BetMGM | 6.5% | 6.4% | 5.6% | 5.2% |
Caesars | 9.0% | 9.4% | 6.3% | 7.0% |
Fanatics *since launch on Feb 29 | 2.4% | 4.4% | 3.4% | 0.4% |
BetRivers | 2.9% | 2.9% | 6.0% | 5.9% |
BallyBet | 0.5% | 0.4% | 5.9% | 3.7% |
Resorts World | 0.4% | 0.4% | 8.3% | 6.1% |
WynnBet | 0.2% | 0.1% | 3.4% | 0.4% |
Now three months on since its February beginnings in the Empire State, Fanatics is beginning to make traction. Still with a relatively small market share, nudging above four per cent as June began, the growth of Fanatics since it acquired the assets of PointsBet has been steady nonetheless.
Aside from the initial two-week launch period when Fanatics burst onto the New York scene, taking over $80 million in bets during its first fortnight of trading, Fanatics achieved its highest handle since of $18 million for the week to May 5. That number is more than four times higher than the $4.1 million achieved by PointsBet for the same seven days in 2023. PointsBet’s peak performing week in 2023 was a handle of $7.7 million.
Quite where Fanatics customers have come from is difficult to tell. It may be that Fanatics has nibbled away little by little at the market share of several others. However, with none of the other sportsbooks showing much decline - bar the demise of the soon-to-depart WynnBet - it could be that Fanatics has achieved one of its stated goals in attracting customers who are completely new to sports betting.
On the subject of WynnBet, ESPN Bet is scheduled to take over its license in the latter part of this year. Likely to be the next big shakeup of the New York betting industry, it will be interesting to monitor how ESPN Bet performs after launch compared with the benchmark set by Fanatics.
