Louisiana reports $1.8B+ handle, over $26M in taxes for its first full year of legal sports betting

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has announced the results for the state’s first full year of legal sports betting, which resulted in more than $1.8 billion in wagers, generating over $26.4 million in taxes.

Louisiana sports betting produced a monthly handle record of $255.5 million in October, with $219 million coming from mobile bets and $36.4 million from retail. According to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, the wagers produced net proceeds of $4.2 million for retail and nearly $26 million for mobile.

At the board’s monthly meeting last week, Ronnie Johns, Louisiana Gaming Control Board chair, stated sports betting continues to move along "very well," with no problems, as reported by The Center Square.

The state legalized retail sports betting beginning in November 2021, followed by mobile sports betting in January. The legislation allowed mobile operators to claim up to $5 million in promotional credits, and most used up the allowance early in the year, resulting in increased tax revenues over the last six months. 

During the first two months of 2022, mobile operators deducted more than $21 million in tax credits, compared to just $1.2 million since July.  This means the state has collected nearly the same amount ($11 million in taxes) from mobile betting through the first four months of fiscal year 2023 as it did through the last six months of fiscal year 2022, explains the cited source.

Mobile operators generated the most revenue from parlay at $96 million since January 2022, followed by $19.9 million in football proceeds, $16.9 million from baseball, $13.3 million from “other” sports, $13 million from basketball, and $2.3 million from soccer.  

Retail sports betting also generated the most proceeds from parlay at $22.8 million, with football in second at $7 million, followed by “other” sports at $2.2 million, baseball at $1.8 million, basketball at $1.7 million, and soccer at $246,827 since November 2021.