The Louisiana Gaming Control Board reported a statewide hold of 13.6% on gross sports betting revenue for July on Thursday as Pelican State sportsbooks continued to run roughshod on the betting public.
It was the eighth consecutive month the statewide win rate reached double figures, and the fourth straight month it was 12.8% or higher. Louisiana sportsbooks have not been held under 10% since posting an 8.2% win rate last November.
The stratospheric hold in July resulted in $25 million in gross revenue, up 36.9% compared to last year. That matched the percentage increase in handle to $172.2 million as the win rate from 12 months prior was two-thousandths of a percentage point higher. Handle was down 13% from June, while revenue slipped 8%.
The state was eligible to levy taxes on $24 million in adjusted gross revenue, shifting $3.5 million to Louisiana coffers. The $32.9 million in receipts for the first seven months of 2024 is more than $12.6 million ahead of last year’s pace.
While there was ebb and flow with regards to revenue in the six sport-specific categories published by the LGCB, the most notable difference from July 2023 came in basketball, where revenue increased nearly five-fold to $2.7 million.
Louisiana sportsbooks are having a banner year thus far when it comes to hoops: The $30.3 million won by the house is already 84% of the full-year 2023 total of $36.1 million.
Parlay and same game parlay revenue was a 2024-low $15.5 million, but that still represented a 44.3% year-over-year increase. The $158.4 million in revenue from the multi-leg wagers accounts for close to 64% of the $248.9 million in overall gross winnings this year.
Operator winnings did dip notably for baseball, as the $2 million claimed was down 31.6% from the previous July. Though only a handful of sportsbooks in Louisiana were on the hook for Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale’s payouts when the Houston Astros won the 2022 World Series, the overall revenue for sportsbooks when it comes to baseball winnings is minus-$14.7 million.
Retail Sportsbooks Lagging Behind 2023
The 12.7% hold attained by Louisiana’s 18 retail sportsbooks represented a high for 2024 as they claimed $1.6 million in revenue from $12.3 million worth of accepted wagers.
But subpar performances from February through April in which they failed to post a win rate above 7.1% has contributed to year-to-date revenue being down 32.4% compared to the first seven months of 2023.
The brick-and-mortar venues do have a combined 8.7% hold this year, reaping $12.8 million from $147.6 million handle.
On the mobile side, the state’s nine sports betting apps combined for a 13.6% hold in winning $23.5 million. It was the fourth straight month digital operators reached 13%, the longest such streak since mobile betting launched in January 2022. All-time mobile gross revenue is $865,000 shy of $750 million, with operators crafting an 11.8% win rate from $6.33 billion in handle.
