Connecticut Reports Huge Betting Totals For May

May was an enormous month on the legal sports betting front for Connecticut. It was just reported that the Connecticut May handle was $163.6 million for this past month, reflecting an almost 50 percent year-over-year increase for a relatively small state. It also represented a 4.4 percent increase in handle as compared to April 2024 with a corresponding 5.7 percent increase in revenue as well. The sportsbook operators had an impressive 10.5 percent hold to earn roughly $171 million in revenue in May.

Connecticut sports betting has had a good run since legalization, collecting over $1.7 billion in handle in 2023 and already over $873 million in handle through the first five months of 2024. That means the state is well on-pace to eclipse its large handle total from a year ago should things continue to grow and grow as they have thus far in 2024. Right now, that handle is almost 25 percent higher than it was last year at this time.

Interestingly, the $163.6 million in handle in May isn’t even one of the higher total handles in the state’s history during the period of legalization. It’s only 10th, showing how Connecticut has really fared well in the sports betting marketplace despite being a relatively small state in terms of population and size.

Also, it should be noted that April 2024’s handle was down from the previous month and was actually the lowest handle total of 2024. That makes sense because there was only a sliver of the NCAA Tournament left.

Connecticut Betting Is Routed Through Five Entities

While some states might have a ton of competition in their legal online sports betting marketplaces, Connecticut only has three: FanDuel, DraftKings and Fanatics. So, most the huge Connecticut May handle was collected by those three online sportsbook operators with the rest being accounted for by the state’s two retail sportsbooks, a partnership between Fanatics and the Connecticut Lottery and the sportsbook at the XL Center in Hartford. That makes it even more impressive for Connecticut to put up the kind of numbers it did last month.

FanDuel ($69 million in handle and $8.6 million inf profit) and DraftKings ($67.73 million in handle and $6.41 million in profit) are very close in terms of market share as that small of a disparity in handle shows that they are attracting roughly the same volume of wagers. Interestingly, FanDuel had a much higher hold rate last month which resulted in the higher profits.

Fanatics ($18.82 million in handle and $1.14 million in profit) is a clear third but is trying to establish itself as one of the best betting sites in the US. It has a lot of work to do to try and break the duopoly that FanDuel and DraftKings seem to have over the market. That’s not to say it can’t be done but one would think that it has the best chance of doing so in a state with fewer competitors such as Connecticut. However, for right now, Fanatics has a ways to go even if collecting almost $20 million in handle in a non-NFL month in a small state is still very impressive. It’s just not close to the numbers the bigger players are doing.

Plenty of Room To Grow

All the Connecticut May handle resulted in $1.97 million in tax revenue for the state government, the year-long total of which is now over $10.4 million. When compared to the tax revenue collected by larger states nearby such as New York and New Jersey, that seems like a paltry sum. When you consider that Connecticut has a pretty low sportsbook tax rate of 13.75 percent, though, it’s a bit more understandable.

That’s actually a big advantage Connecticut has over New York and Pennsylvania, for example. The tax rate in New York is 51 percent while the tax rate in Pennsylvania is 36 percent. So, while these taxes certainly lead to increased tax revenues collected by the state government, they also make it a big less ideal for sportsbooks and bettors to conduct business in the state.

So, as a neighbor of New York, for example, Connecticut could stand to benefit from operators trying to lure bettors into the state. It’s tough to compete with a behemoth like New York but Connecticut is well-positioned to.

It remains to be seen how Connecticut’s activity will fare over the course of the summer with the NHL and NBA playoffs now over and pretty much only MLB through the August when the NFL ramps back up. It would be totally normal for handle to take a step back in July and August but, with how Connecticut’s numbers are trending, the only direction may be up.

For Gambling news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

Can’t get enough? Here’s more!

• Massachusetts Operators to Meet on Betting Limits
• MGM Resorts Purchasing Tipico U.S. Sportsbook
• Betfred to Exit Maryland’s Sports Betting Market: What It Means for Bettors
• Jake Paul’s ‘Betr’ Partners with ‘Betting Ladies’ to Empower Women in Sports Betting
• NJ Betting On Car Jit-Su: Yes, It’s a Real Sport