Maine Sportsbooks See $37.6 Million Handle In Opening Month

Maine sportsbooks took $37.6 million in bets in the first month of legal sports wagering in November, the state’s Gambling Control Unit reported, as DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook attempted to gain footholds.

The Gambling Control Unit produces daily logs of wagering activity updated multiple times per week, an unprecedented level of detail for states with commercial sports betting. The numbers are unofficial as the two operators have until the 10th of the month to report their figures to the state agency.

The first month of business was good for the two mobile betting apps, which claimed close to $4.9 million in gross sports betting revenue by crafting a 12.9% hold. The state was eligible to levy its 10% tax rate on more than $4.6 million in adjusted gross revenue, resulting in $464,152 for state coffers.

Caesars and DraftKings took their first wagers in Maine on Nov. 3, when it became the fifth state to launch in 2023. Maine’s handle for its opening month measures up closely to Arkansas, which cleared $40 million in handle for the first time in September with three mobile options available and set an all-time high with $45 million worth of accepted wagers in October. Maine’s population is less than half that of Arkansas but it has higher-profile mobile operators.

DraftKings sees plenty of Sunday action

The daily logs provided by Maine’s regulator showed the NFL continues to be the biggest act in town for bettors. It was more apparent with DraftKings, however, as 23.2% of its $30.5 million in bets placed revolved around action Sunday. Its top three daily handle totals — all above $1.75 million — came on Sundays, while Thanksgiving Day and the Saturday as part of the four-day holiday weekend rounded out the top five days for handle.

Bettors’ fortunes with DraftKings varied wildly on a Sunday-by-Sunday basis those four weekends. On Nov. 5, the mobile juggernaut had its best day of the month with gross revenue totaling more than $347,000 from a 21.9% win rate. Seven days later, the hold plunged to 4.7% as DraftKings won less than $83,000.

Nov. 19 could be labeled ordinary with a 9.9% hold that resulted in close to $177,000 in gross revenue, but the public ran roughshod Nov. 26, coming out more than $400,000 ahead on more than $1.9 million handle. That was the high point for handle for the month — and a low point for revenue — as DraftKings finished November with $4.4 million in gross revenue.

Caesars sees business pick up in final week

Caesars saw only one of its top five days for handle fall on a Sunday, with the $514,560 in wagers accepted Nov. 26 ranking fourth overall. It also was more than two-thirds of the nearly $765,000 in combined handle generated the other three Sundays of the month.

Its performance on Sundays mirrored DraftKings, albeit on a smaller scale. Its best Sunday was Nov. 5, when it claimed more than $37,000 in revenue from $220,955 handle for a 16.9% win rate. Caesars barely broke even Nov. 12, coming out $9,030 ahead on $274,008 wagered. The following Sunday was a good one with a 12.3% hold that resulted in more than $33,000 in winnings, but the public came out $101,565 ahead Nov. 26 while the hold was minus 19.7%.

Caesars could point to the final week of November as a sign of good things to come in terms of generating business. The $3.3 million handle reported Nov. 24-30 represented 46.9% of its overall total of $7.1 million. The downside was the mobile betting app posting its two biggest daily losses of the month that week, as bettors were also $109,131 to the good on the final day of the month.