After a devastating 2023 start to mobile sports betting activity, New York has now reported a major loss to its weekly betting handle. For the week ended Jan. 29, 2023, the New York State Game Commission unveiled a seven-day betting volume of less than $400 million for the first time since the start of the new calendar.

The 2023 launch marked the one-year anniversary of the launch of Empire State's mobile sports betting market. Allowing nine digital sports books to offer and accept sports betting online, this segment has been much more beneficial to the state. In its first year, it brought in over $700 in revenue from betting and over $200 million in operator licenses.

Yesterday, the New York State Game Board released its latest weekly data on the market. For the week of January 29, 2023, nine sports books posted US$344.8 million in online betting activities. That's significantly lower than the amount recorded last month, including the previous week when the operator handled US$450.7 million.

The last week of January 2023 handles were recorded after a long time since operators failed to cross the $400 million mark in the new year. Meanwhile, the $304.8 million handle was only $27.3 million. The amount was significantly lower than $57.5 million for the week ended January 22, 2023.

In terms of operator number analysis, local brand fanduel was still the favorite sports book of New Yorkers. The company recorded the largest amount of total handling, as its handling bets amounted to US$146.8 million. This amount increased to total game revenue of US$13.5 million. Both indicators fell on the previous week's earnings.

Needless to say, the top three sports books in volume and revenue remain the same. The DraftKings again came in second with $18.7 million and pre-tax revenue of $6.7 million, the second-highest betting volume. Third place was Caesars Sportsbook with a total weekly trading volume of US$43 million and a GGR of only US$4 million.

The big drop in weekly wages came shortly after Pandual and DraftKings joined a joint hearing by the New York Congress and the Senate Gambling Committee to review the first year of mobile sports betting. Operators have warned that if tax rates are not cut, some sportsbooks in the state could rely on increasing betting odds for bets.

Meanwhile, some local lawmakers are considering further changes to the digital sports betting model. In mid-January, Democrat Louis R. Sepulveda introduced Senate Bill S1550. If the bill is passed, all gambling ads in the state should include warnings about possible negative effects of the game. In addition, all ads must include a New York problem gambling hotline number.