Delaware Sports Betting Handle Hits All-Time Low During July

• The three licensed sportsbooks in Delaware recently released their July revenue numbers.
• Almost 50,000 wagers less were made at Delaware sportsbooks in July compared to June.
• Since the beginning of the year, the three sportsbooks (pre-tax contributions) have collected $5 million in revenue.

DOVER, Del. – Sports betting hit careers lows during July in Delaware as all three sportsbooks posted their lowest betting handle numbers on record.

The $3.9 million collected, according to the latest Delaware Lottery report was even worse than their launch month (June 2018), which typically is reserved for any state’s worst reporting month.

Still, the three sportsbooks were able to secure their highest revenue since April due to bettors allowing the books to keep 12.94% of all action. This is the fourth highest hold percentage in the state’s 14 reported sports betting months, the third time in 2019 that all three books kept more than 10% of the handle, and the only reason the books are not picking up the pennies on the floor as everyone is leaving the building.

A total of $507,410 was kept in revenue for the month, before sending half of it to the state in the form on a tax contribution. This extra bit of sports betting revenue helped the state’s sportsbooks surpass the milestone of $5 million in revenue for the entire course of the year so far.

With 111,870 wagers placed in Delaware sportsbooks, this also reflected the lowest number since the state’s launch. The average wager amount remained in the expected range of $31 – $37 – on par with the previous few months. But, this six-digit wager total still fell short of June’s total wager number by over 46,000.

By the book, there is nothing impressive to note, especially when it came to the betting handle.

Both Delaware Park and Dover Downs were held to their lowest sports betting handles ever, failing to surpass the $3.6 million and $1.1 million thresholds for the first time, respectively. The $2.6 million and $852,422 still made up a sizeable amount of the total handle, but things weren’t any better for Harrington Raceway.

The racino didn’t post their lowest handle ever – which was reserved for its launch month – but it did fail to surpass $600,000 in total wagers ($511,587) for the first time since then.

The summer months have been similar to a majority of the legal sports betting states but none have seen it go so far south as much as Delaware, expect maybe Mississippi.

The first state that legalized sports betting after the repeal of PASPA will be looking forward to the strong fall months ahead, where they can hopefully post a monthly betting handle as high as $16 million – something they did three times last year. Only the NFL and college football betting can save the state now.

News tags: Delaware | Delaware Park | Dover Downs | Harrington Raceway