Maybe it was a Hard Knocks bump and Michigan bettors dumped money into Detroit Lions futures. Maybe it was excitement for the Michigan and Michigan State football teams. Or maybe it was just pent-up frustration at the Tigers.
But no matter how one looks at it, Michigan bettors pushed sportsbook handle up to $218.8 million in August, a big jump from July’s $206.1 million and a massive leap from last August’s $192.3 million.
And not only did Michigan bettors put down more money, they also lost their fair share, with the gross betting receipts for the sportsbooks totaling nearly $24 million, for a hold of slightly over 11%.
Tax payments totaled $989,620 to the state and another $360,922 to the city of Detroit.
FanDuel, and everyone else
Breaking it down per operator, FanDuel exploded upward to a $72.4 million handle, blowing by its $60 million July. As a result, it once again lengthened its lead over second place DraftKings, which saw its number fall to $52.5 million in August. BetMGM came in third at $45.1 million.
Fourth and fifth place saw July’s flip-flop stay the course, as Caesars — for the second consecutive month — beat Barstool. Caesars’ handle came in at $15.3 million, Barstool’s $13.3 million.
It will be very interesting to see how the top five do in September, with the return of the NFL. Basically, where is the favorite place to bet for Lions faithful?
Sixth place was PointsBet at $5.7 million, a nice bump from July’s 4.3 million. It was followed by BetRivers at $4.3, which was up from 3.5 million in July. FOX Bet and WynnBET each handled around $1.7 million, and Soaring Eagle continued its strong showing among the tribes that are going at it alone with a $1.1 million month.
At the bottom of the order was FireKeepers at a little less than $1.1 million, Parx at $975,428, Golden Nugget at $680,109, Four Winds at $454,725, and the late, not-so-great TwinSpires at $309,844. In September’s numbers, the Sports Illustrated sportsbook will make its debut, replacing TwinSpires.
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