New York sports betting "hugely popular" upon launch, DraftKings Sportsbook head confirms

Johnny Avello, Director of Race & Sportsbook Operations at DraftKings and Sports Betting Hall of Famer, has reflected on New York’s online sports betting market, stating initial figures prove it has been “hugely popular” upon launch. He further predicted that within the next five years, “almost all of the states” will be on board with sports wagering.

“It’s hugely popular; I can tell by the numbers we did over the first weekend,” Avello told Poughkeepsie Journal. “We opened up with the two NFL games that Saturday and New York was one of the top states for handle.”

The New York sports betting market launched earlier this month, on Saturday 9. It did so with record-setting numbers, posting 17.2 million in bets in two days according to GeoComply's weekend geolocation volumes for the state, a historical launch for sports markets in the US.

The first 36 hours of #SportsBetting in New York was LEGENDARY. In total, NY saw over 17M checks for their first weekend.

Check out this video of #geolocation volume! pic.twitter.com/FylPc2BpUQ

— GeoComply (@GeoComply) January 10, 2022

The executive and sports betting expert further predicted that this year’s NFL playoff gambling numbers would likely break records and that, within the next five years, “almost all of the states will be on board” with sports wagering. Avello also told the cited source the influx of wagers is coming from both New Yorkers who long had wanted to make sports bets, and others who are simply drawn to the novelty.

Newly shared figures by GeoComply seem to indicate this is the case. According to the company, 770,840 of New York players -or 87.8%- are new to the regulated online sports betting market, meaning they were never before seen in the company’s systems.

The market, which launched with four operators offering bets -DraftKings, FanDuel, Rush Street Interactive and Caesars Sportsbook-, took in $150 million in wagers from over 650,000 player accounts since launch, according to data shared by state officials on Tuesday. It likely surpassed New Jersey for the top spot in the US during its first two weekends.

State officials expect New York to bring in $249 million in revenue from mobile sports betting in fiscal year 2022, and $357 million the next one. By fiscal year 2027, once the market has matured, the state expects $518 million a year in mobile sports revenue. It is poised to become one of the country’s biggest markets, if not the largest.

While the market has quickly gained momentum with just five operators -BetMGM joined the initial group of four brands days after launch-, four more are still set to launch services. BallyBet, Wynn Interactive, Resorts World Bet and PointsBet are still awaiting final approval to enter the market, a process New York State Senator Joe Addabbo Jr. said he wanted to expedite.

Get ready, Oregon. @DKSportsbook will be at your fingertips on January 18. For more information, check out the full release here: https://t.co/FhzzV7PCwW pic.twitter.com/6YNMO8THBa

— DraftKings News (@DraftKingsNews) January 12, 2022

In addition to launching in New York, January has also been a productive month for DraftKings for other reasons. Last week, the Oregon Lottery announced it would move from the Scoreboard platform to DraftKings for sports betting.

The transition to the new platform began on Tuesday and, according to the Oregon Lottery, “means fewer third-party service providers and a simpler financial structure for player accounts.” The deal marks the second exclusive lottery agreement DraftKings has made after inking a deal in 2019 with the New Hampshire Lottery.