The Missouri Gaming Commission reported on Friday $53.3 million in gross sports betting revenue for January as FanDuel and DraftKings again led a strong month of operator performance.
Handle for the second month of business plunged 29% from $543 million to $385.1 million, which was not surprising. The Kansas City Chiefs failed to make the playoffs, and better-than-expected outcomes for the house when it came to NFL betting likely contributed to bettors churning through their promotional offers faster.
Though adjusted gross revenue for January was a net positive of $19.3 million, total tax revenue remitted to the state was only $137,900. Most digital sportsbooks were permitted to carry over their December losses per state rules and regulations, and any positive AGR reported in January was absorbed by those operating deficits.
Titans ride parlay volume and results
For the second time in as many months, nearly every Missouri sportsbook was able to record strong revenue totals from parlay wagers. One notable exception was on the retail side, where Century City paid out $291,804 above its $420,400 handle and took an overall loss of $227,000 for the month.
The state’s eight mobile operators accepted more than 9.7 million multi-leg bets, which represented 60% of the total wagering volume. The 25.1% hold generated $35.6 million in gross winnings, which accounted for 67% of overall revenue.
DraftKings’ $14.5 million in parlay winnings represented 63.6% of its total revenue, while the $13.8 million claimed by FanDuel accounted for 70.6% of its haul. That helped the pair cut into their sizable operator deficits from December. DraftKings led all operators with $22.8 million in January winnings to whittle its losses to $3.7 million, while FanDuel sliced its deficit to below $905,000 after reaping $19.9 million. In between the pair is Fanatics, whose net AGR is nearly $2 million in the red after reporting a loss of $121,100 for the month.
BetMGM and theScore Bet also had parlay holds above 21%. BetMGM needed that stellar effort given it reported a seven-figure loss in the catch-all “other” category for the second straight month. Bettors came out $1.6 million ahead on those wagers after posting a collective $1.4 million win in December.
Promotional spend plunges
Overall promotional spend for January totaled $33.1 million, which was down 73.5% from the known figure of $125.1 million in December. None of the eight operators claimed the maximum 25% allowable deductions this time, with bet365 coming closest at 20.2% with its $6.9 million outlay of bonuses and credits.
All eight mobile books had month-over-month drops of at least 28.3% in their spend. DraftKings pulled back by 80.9% to $9.3 million and FanDuel was down at least 75.7% to a still state-high $13 million.
Bet365’s spend was 52.5% lower from December, but BetMGM — whose outlay dipped to $1.1 million — closed the gap between itself and the England-based sportsbook from $29.7 million in December to less than $1.1 million for the No. 3 spot for handle.
Promotional spend accounted for 8.6% of the total handle in January. That was down substantially from the known 23% total from launch in December.
