Sports betting in Connecticut saw a disappointing decline in February with revenue down from January’s numbers.
Connecticut casinos did, however, see increased slot revenue for the month, year-over-year.
February handle for CT sports betting
Last week, the state reported February’s numbers for sports gambling in Connecticut. The combined sports betting handle was $115.6 million for the state’s three licensees:
- Connecticut Lottery Corp. (CLC)
- Mohegan Sun
- Foxwoods Resort Casino
All three paid a total tax rate of 13.75% of their gross revenue for sports betting in February. This amounted to $501,516 of their total gross revenue, which was $3.6 million.
CT sports betting handle: Month over month
In January of this year, the reported sports betting handle was $158 million. This means February saw a decrease of 26.9% overall from the previous month.
One understandable factor to consider in the drop is that there was one less weekend in February for sports bettors to play. CLC’s Director of Legal and Business Affairs, Andrew Walter said:
“We had fewer selling days in February versus other months. Which included a few snow days that impacted us at retail.”
However, one of the biggest reasons for the decline is that there were some bigger-ticket sporting events held in January. Even though the Super Bowl, the single most bet-on sports event of every year, was in February, it wasn’t enough to beat the numbers from January’s flood of sports activity.
Walter implied that too much expectation is placed on the Super Bowl to bring in staggering revenue from CT sports betting. He continued:
“Although the Super Bowl is a great event for wagering. It is only one game.”
January of this year saw a much higher number of betting events. This includes 12 NFL playoff games as well as the National Championship for College Football.
How were CT sports bets placed?
When it comes to how sports bets in Connecticut are being placed, most of February’s handle came from mobile sports bets versus ones made at in-person retail sportsbooks.
The overall mobile sports betting handle for February was $108.7 million. When compared to January’s mobile handle of $149.3 million, February saw a decrease of 27.2%.
Slot revenue for Connecticut casinos is up
While sports betting in CT struggled last month, Connecticut casinos did report some success in slot machine revenue in February.
Year-over-year, Mohegan Sun reported a 23.3% hike in slot revenue. The casino kept $40.4 million in February after winners were paid out, compared to the $32.7 million kept in February of last year.
Foxwoods kept $28 million in revenue from slots this February. This was a 24.4% increase compared to last year’s February revenue of $22.5 million.
Casino slot revenue is taxed by the state at a rate of 25%. This means Mohegan Sun paid the state $10.1 million when compared to Foxwoods’ $7.1 million.
Foxwoods continues to outperform Mohegan Sun
While Mohegan Sun had Foxwoods beat when it came to February slot revenue, Foxwoods takes the cake in gross online gaming revenue for the second month this year.
In January, Foxwoods brought in a gross online gaming revenue total of $11 million. Mohegan Sun reported keeping only $7.7 in online gaming revenue.
Each casino pays a tax rate of 18% of its gross online gaming revenue to the state. This means Foxwoods paid Connecticut $2 million in taxes in January, where Mohegan Sun paid $1.4 million.
Now in February, Foxwoods paid a total of $1.8 million to the state from online gaming revenue. Mohegan Sun paid a total of $1.2 million.
While slot and online gaming revenue are keeping steady in the state, Connecticut sports betting saw a sub-par month in February.
Anika Howard, President of Foxwoods’ Mashantucket Pequot Interactive, does not consider February’s low sports betting numbers a negative sign for future months and said:
“Sports betting is a volatile business and still new in Connecticut. This is also why we pushed for sports betting and online casino. The combination of the two offerings creates more options and ways to play — and overall is a better experience for players.”
