The Summer Slowdown of 2022 has taken its toll on sports betting in New Hampshire, but the Granite State at least managed a few wins in July.
Numbers recently released by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission show the state's retail and online sportsbooks handled $42.6 million in bets during July, down around 20% from the $53.6 million in wagering reported for June.
Still, last month’s handle for legal sports betting in New Hampshire was approximately 16% higher than in July of 2021, when wagering amounted to $36.7 million. What’s more, New Hampshire’s sole sportsbook operator, DraftKings, managed to generate nearly $4.5 million in gross gaming revenue last month, which works out to a hold of about 10.5%.
Since the New Hampshire Lottery receives 51% of gross gaming revenue earned by DraftKings, minus some promotional costs, the state’s share of revenue from July’s action was $2.1 million. Both GGR and the state's revenue share were higher in July than they were in June, when revenue was approximately $3.1 million and the tax take almost $1.5 million.
DraftKings in New Hampshire continues to get a bump in handle due to the state’s proximity to Massachusetts, where there is no legal sports betting at this time. However, that will change in the not-too-distant future, as lawmakers in the Bay State passed a sports-betting bill in their last session and regulators are hard at work at launching legal wagering.
While the launch of sports betting in Massachusetts could take a bite out of the handle in New Hampshire, the latter is still about to receive a boost from the start of the NFL’s regular season in a few short weeks. Some college football games will be played this weekend as well, including a matchup between New England neighbor UConn and Utah State.
