Sports bettors in New Hampshire wagered a record $68.1 million in September.
The previous record month was Jan. of this year, at $60 million for the handle.
State revenue for Sept. was $3.8 million, of which $3.2 million was from online sports betting alone.
What exactly is the handle? How is it different from revenue?
Simply speaking, the handle is the total amount that is being bet. That means that all money wagered by the bettors makes up the handle.
Revenue is the amount that the sportsbook or individual state will keep. Once the results of a game are in and the bets are settled, the winning bettors are paid and the remaining amount goes to the sportsbook.
Handles and revenues can help keep a quantifiable record of the wagers being made. This information can help show certain patterns in the sports betting market.
For instance, monthly data can indicate what time of year bettors are placing more wagers. A yearly chart of data can tell if sports betting is on the rise or not.
One such example is, out of the $3.8 million in NH revenue for Sept., $3.2 million was in online sports betting. The remainder was brought in through retail sportsbooks.
That means 84% of all state revenue was earned through online sports betting.
This is useful data for those sportsbooks who do a lot of online business, as well as those retail locations.
What does this mean for state government and taxpayers?
One of the big arguments for legalizing gambling is the collection of taxes.
Sticking with NH as an example, we’ll look at the numbers for Aug. of this year. Aug. 2021 saw a total of $36.3 million in sports betting wagers.
As for the revenue, that came in at $1.6 million. State taxes collected were $723,016 for the month. Of which, $679,865 came from mobile activities and wagers. $43,151 came from retail locations.
These figures reflect only one month of tax collection.
This number would be a fraction of the annual amount due to the state. In this sense, taxpayers ultimately benefit from sports betting.
The future of sports betting for the Granite State
In several states, there is money generated that goes toward government programs. Tax revenue from sports betting can support infrastructure benefitting the whole state.
The figures from this year already prove this idea and they seem to be growing with the increased popularity of sports betting.
Look no further than the numbers for NH. New records for monthly handles and revenue amounts are starting to become the norm.
All across the country, we see staggering figures.
Legalsportsreport.com provides a graph indicating dollar amounts from Jun. 2018 up to the present day.
| Jurisdiction | Handle | Revenue | Hold | Taxes/Jurisdiction Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | $95,725,553 | $12,484,231 | 13.0% | $1,741,642 |
| Colorado | $3,604,938,575 | $235,784,761 | 6.5% | $10,666,758 |
| Delaware | $409,472,454 | $62,855,941 | 15.4% | $41,468,764 |
| Illinois | $6,494,488,666 | $489,897,333 | 7.5% | $77,440,806 |
| Indiana | $5,107,980,886 | $412,621,955 | 8.1% | $39,199,088 |
| Iowa | $2,275,175,579 | $141,676,730 | 6.2% | $9,854,645 |
| Michigan | $2,583,952,464 | $216,172,891 | 8.4% | $7,457,788 |
| Mississippi | $1,275,226,021 | $147,330,726 | 11.6% | $17,679,687 |
| Montana | $56,478,368 | $7,272,057 | 12.9% | $- |
| Nevada | $17,662,818,256 | $1,095,211,000 | 6.2% | $73,926,743 |
| New Hampshire | $729,005,292 | $52,634,479 | 7.2% | $24,253,956 |
| New Jersey | $18,992,128,140 | $1,349,911,988 | 7.1% | $169,472,358 |
| New Mexico | $- | $- | -- | $- |
| New York | $320,897,522 | $37,152,208 | 11.6% | $3,715,221 |
| Oregon | $528,701,013 | $46,368,549 | 8.8% | $- |
| Pennsylvania | $10,128,765,090 | $766,799,816 | 7.6% | $188,790,723 |
| Rhode Island | $768,114,101 | $70,167,146 | 9.1% | $35,785,244 |
| South Dakota | $443,365 | $71,320 | 16.1% | $6,419 |
| Tennessee | $2,335,244,523 | $205,444,908 | 8.8% | $35,543,918 |
| Virginia | $1,965,252,385 | $175,883,122 | 8.9% | $12,631,520 |
| Washington DC | $243,182,239 | $34,589,546 | 14.2% | $2,526,435 |
| West Virginia | $1,074,223,235 | $86,537,782 | 8.1% | $8,653,778 |
| Wyoming | $6,242,469 | ($123,970) | (2.0%) | ($12,398) |
| Total | $76,658,456,196 | $5,646,744,519 | 7.4% | $760,803,095 |
The results clearly show massive popularity and substantial monies for each state. With numbers like this, it’s difficult to imagine sports betting to do anything but expand.
