With all but four states reporting April results, handle for the month is on pace to fall 19% from March, which would match the decline from March to April of last year. The March Madness boom gives way to the spring and summer swoon. Rinse and repeat.
Far more interesting is a continued year-on-year decline in a handful of states as neighboring states that now allow online wagering claw back residents who were crossing borders at this time last year.
The reversal of the flow across bridges and through tunnels continues in New Jersey, where April was down 10% from the previous April. That’s the 11th consecutive month in which monthly handle was down 8% or more compared to the prior year. In six of those months it was down 14% or more.
Michigan dropped 15% -- it’s third consecutive double-digit year-on-year drop and fourth straight declining month since neighbor Ohio opened. Another Ohio border state, Indiana, was down 11% from last April. D.C., which has now seen both Maryland and Virginia open, was down 26% from last April. The opening of Massachusetts led to April falls of 11% in New Hampshire and 7% in Rhode Island.
First-mover advantage was a thing. But apparently not a sustainable thing.
| Sports betting handles for April 2023 | |||
| JURISDICTION | TOTAL | VS. MARCH 2023 |
VS. APRIL 2022 |
| New York | $1,550,014,914 | -14% | 11% |
| New Jersey | $833,980,925 | -19% | -10% |
| Nevada | $598,044,280 | -28% | 3% |
| Massachusetts | $579,262,822 | 2% | N/A |
| Pennsylvania | $572,152,803 | -21% | 0% |
| Ohio | $520,703,584 | -30% | N/A |
| Virginia | $425,982,859 | -17% | 7% |
| Michigan | $338,127,853 | -20% | -15% |
| Maryland | $328,454,396 | -15% | N/A |
| Indiana | $321,404,737 | -26% | -11% |
| Tennessee | $318,416,216 | -19% | 9% |
| Louisiana | $209,746,932 | -16% | 1% |
| Iowa | $172,589,393 | -26% | -3% |
| Kansas | $132,981,289 | -36% | N/A |
| Connecticut | $126,684,869 | -21% | 9% |
| New Hampshire | $65,083,883 | -37% | -11% |
| Oregon | $55,167,184 | 9% | 28% |
| West Virginia | $46,765,566 | 9% | 2% |
| Rhode Island | $37,496,094 | -10% | -7% |
| Mississippi | $31,805,003 | -32% | -10% |
| Arkansas | $25,452,659 | -32% | 196% |
| D.C. | $13,657,193 | -23% | -26% |
| Wyoming | $12,623,675 | -15% | 26% |
| Montana | $5,201,964 | -10% | 60% |
| U.S. TOTALS | $7,321,801,093 | -19% | 1% |
NOTE : Regulators in Illinois, Colorado, Arizona and Delaware have not yet reported April results.
