New York’s sportsbooks took a page out of Charles Dickens’ (play)book this past week, as it proved to be both the best of times and the worst of times.
On the “best” front: Nearly $595 million was wagered with the state’s eight legal sportsbooks, which marks the biggest week for handle since last November, when the week ending Nov. 9 totaled a shade over $602 million.
The first big football week of 2026 provided the sixth-highest handle the Empire State has seen since online sports betting debuted in January 2022, and it marked the highest total for an NFL opening weekend.
On the “worst” front: Bettors cleaned up, with the sportsbooks making just $16.9 million in revenue, for an objectively silly hold of 2.8%.
Why the low hold number? Chalk it up, probably, to New York’s Giants, Jets, and Bills all covering the spread as well as winning their games outright. Also, it tied 2012’s mark of 791 points for the highest-scoring NFL opening week ever, and that’s a recipe for New York’s books to take a bit of a bath.
Also notable, and for this we’ll bring in Mark Twain: Reports of the death of sportsbooks have been greatly exaggerated.
Despite the rise in prediction markets — according to Aldrin Research, on Sunday alone prediction markets did over $3.1 billion in notional volume in sports and combo trades across the country — the health of sportsbooks, at least in the Empire State, remains robust.
The breakdown
FanDuel led the way with $224.5 million in handle for the week ending Sept. 13, followed by DraftKings at $216.7 million. Between them, the two accounted for a little more than 74% of all the money wagered in New York.
Keeping that money was another matter. FanDuel finished with $8.3 million in revenue for a modest 3.7% hold, while DraftKings kept $4.7 million, a hold of 2.2%.
Fanatics took third with $60.5 million in handle, and it had the most pronounced case of money coming in and going right back out. It managed just $642,600 in revenue, for a 1.1% hold, the lowest of the eight operators.
Caesars edged BetMGM for fourth, taking $36.3 million in wagers to BetMGM’s $35.4 million. Caesars collected $1.1 million in revenue, while BetMGM finished with $966,974.
BetRivers came in sixth with $10.4 million in handle, but its 5.8% hold won the week’s bragging rights. Its $608,148 in revenue was almost as much as Fanatics managed on nearly six times the handle.
TheScore Bet followed in seventh with $7.5 million in wagers and $420,192 in revenue, good for a 5.6% hold. Bally Bet rounded out the field with $3.2 million in handle and $104,029 in revenue.
