New York Shows Strong Yearly Growth Despite February Handle Dip

The state of New York has shown strong year-over-year growth in online sports betting revenue, reaching $184.8 million in February 2025.

Headline figures from the Empire State show the lowest handle since August 2024, and for the first time in six months handle has dropped below the $2 billion mark.

February tends to be a quiet month in the United States of America sports calendar. The Super Bowl takes place in early February, and then there’s the anxious wait for March Madness. As such, handle and revenue historically tend to dip in the month.

Revenue grew by 40.8 percent year-over-year on February’s total, but fell short of January’s record-breaking $247 million.

FanDuel Tops New York Market Share Again

On an operator-by-operator breakdown, the data for February looked like this:

• FanDuel – Handle: $738.5M | Revenue: $92.5M | Hold: 12.53% | Market Share: 37.30%
• DraftKings – Handle: $717.4M | Revenue: $51.6M | Hold: 7.19% | Market Share: 36.23%
• Fanatics – Handle: $169.5M | Revenue: $11.0M | Hold: 6.49% | Market Share: 8.56%
• BetMGM – Handle: $130.2M | Revenue: $11.8M | Hold: 9.06% | Market Share: 6.58%
• Caesars – Handle: $128.6M | Revenue: $10.0M | Hold: 7.78% | Market Share: 6.49%
• ESPN Bet – Handle: $43.3M | Revenue: $3.8M | Hold: 8.72% | Market Share: 2.19%
• Rush Street Interactive – Handle: $42.1M | Revenue: $2.8M | Hold: 6.67% | Market Share: 2.13%
• Resorts World Bet – Handle: $7.9M | Revenue: $607,970 | Hold: 7.71% | Market Share: 0.40%
• Bally Bet – Handle: $2.7M | Revenue: $484,391 | Hold: 6.73% | Market Share: 0.14%

FanDuel continued to be the market leader in both handle and revenue. The company’s strong hold percentage of 12.53 percent compared to DraftKings’ 7.19 percent saw it turn near identical handle into $40 million more in revenue.

DraftKings and FanDuel made up nearly two-thirds of the total market, with Fanatics, BetMGM, and Caesars completing the top five in terms of market share by handle. PENN Entertainment’s licensing deal with ESPN continued to underperform, just edging sixth place over Rush Street Interactive.

Broadening of Legislation Unlikely in New York

New York is the biggest sports betting market in the United States, but regulation in the Empire State is far from fast. Following the repeal of PASPA in 2018, residents of the Big Apple did not get the chance to wager on mobile until January 2022.

With the highest tax rate on gross gaming revenue of any state at 51 percent, New York has generated more tax than any other state from wagering.

Senator Joseph Addabbo has long been an advocate of legalized iGaming, suggesting that bringing online casino under regulation will stop people from playing with crypto casinos and online sweepstakes casinos.

The lawmaker recently filed S 5935, called: “An Act to amend the racing, pari-mutuel wagering and breeding law, in relation to prohibiting online sweepstakes games and revenue from illegal markets.”

After experiencing such drastic opposition to his proposed broadening of legislation, Addabbo has also turned to prohibition instead.