13 September, 2024

Facing Facts: Analysing North American sports betting and iGaming operators performance in 2024

How have sports betting and iGaming in North America been developing and how successful have different operators been in different states so far this year? Gambling Insider investigates...

Source: American Gaming Association (AGA) 

  • Despite the growth of iGaming and sports betting since PASPA was overturned in 2018, land-based casino betting still makes up roughly three quarters of commercial gaming revenue quarter-on-quarter. However, this market has remained relatively stagnant, growing by 3.5% from Q4 2022 to Q1 2024 from $11.92bn to $12.34bn.
  • Conversely, sports betting in the same period has grown in revenue by 31.1%, from $2.54bn to $3.33bn. Growth in iGaming has been even more significant, up 42.4% from $1.39bn to $1.98bn. While it is unlikely these markets will outperform casino gaming in revenue anytime soon, it is likely they will continue to account for a larger part of the commercial gaming revenue pie.

Source: iGaming Ontario 

  • Since the launch of iGaming in Ontario on 4 April, the market has grown rapidly, hosting 50 operators and 81 sites as of 11 July 2024. The data above covers the time period up to and including 31 March 2024.
  • While the number of operators stabilised (and even decreased) during the 2023-24 period, revenue continued to grow, showing an increase in interest from players or improved marketing strategies from operators already providing iGaming options in Ontario.

Source: Massachusetts Gaming Commission 

  • Unlike the majority of states, and in direct contrast to the quarterly reports submitted by FanDuel, DraftKings has routinely generated a higher revenue than its primary competitor in Massachusetts. Both operators outperform all other state sports betting operators by a significant margin.
  • The gap between the operators was its largest in February, with DraftKings making $30.8m to FanDuel’s $14m. However, FanDuel has begun to close the gap, with a difference of just $2.8m in taxable sports betting revenue reported in June 2024. Crucially, Massachusetts is DraftKings’ home state.

Source: Michigan Gaming Control Board 

  • When looking at Michigan’s top gaming operators by monthly sports betting handle, MotorCity Casino consistently comes out on top. Operating a FanDuel Sportsbook on the property, MotorCity Casino saw high handle at the start of the year that has declined as the year has gone on – a trend notable among sports betting operators in multiple states.
  • Conversely, Bay Mills Resort and Casino, operated by the Bay Mills Indian Community, plays host to a DraftKings sportsbook on its property. As seen in Massachusetts, summertime seems to be the time when FanDuel and DraftKings share the most equal footing, compared to the start of the year when the dominant state operator becomes more visible.

Source: Commission websites 

*Total gross sports betting receipts 

**Net proceeds 

***AGR 

  • Pennsylvania and Indiana show similar sports betting trends to Massachusetts and Michigan, in that they tend to reach highs early in the year only to decline as they enter the summer. Louisiana bucks this trend, however, having its most lucrative sports betting month in the year so far in April.
  • Massachusetts and Pennsylvania experienced the most significant drops in revenue from January to June, while Louisiana remained relatively consistent across all six months.
  • Indiana and Michigan are shown to routinely swap leads month-on-month, with Indiana outperforming Michigan in January and February and Michigan outperforming Indiana in the remaining months until June. Interestingly, in June Michigan outperformed Indiana by just $0.4m.

Source: Iowa Racing & Gaming Commission 

  • Excluding Iowa’s two largest operators, Crown IA and Betfair, and focusing on the state’s mid-to-small sized operators, BetMGM and American Wagering routinely perform better than their peers, outperforming operators including Penn Sports and RSI.
  • Tipico saw its monthly revenue decline sizeably between March and June 2024, going from net receipts of $103,681 to $30,971, down 70.1%. In July, Tipico was acquired by BetMGM subsidiary LeoVegas, pulling the brand from the US market.
  • Meanwhile, Betfred has kept its net receipts fairly consistent month-on-month, declining by 8.1% between March and June. However, operators have generated net receipts nowhere close to those made by native operators, which may be indicative of why some non-US-owned brands are choosing to leave the US market (see our cover feature for more on this topic!).