Sports bettors in Oregon wagered $32.6m in November, down slightly from $37.6m in October, according to figures released by the Oregon Lottery.
Gross gaming revenue for November was more than $4.4m, on a sparkling 13.55% margin – which the regulator defines as the percent of profit the operator realizes on each $1 bet.
In contrast, October’s GGR was $3m on 8.03% margin, while in September GGR was $1.2m on 5.02% margin.
Handle and the number of unique active players picked up considerably once football season started in September, the state said. In August, 12,863 bettors placed $17.6m in wagers. Those numbers jumped to 24,965 and $25.07m in September as the National Football League commenced play.
In October there were 27,781 unique active players, a number that dipped slightly to 26,844 in November.
Football had been the top sport to bet on in both September ($9.7m in handle, ahead of $6.7m placed on baseball) and October ($15.4m, almost doubling $8.9m on basketball). In November, however, basketball surged ahead with $13.5m in wagers, with football at $11.1m.
The players have gotten worse at picking football winners as the season has gone along. In September, margin on football wagers was 5.55%, leading to GGR of $538,346. October’s margin was 6.38%, with GGR of $984,901. Last month, margin on gridiron bets soared to 24.55%, with GGR of more than $2.7m.
By comparison, margin on basketball wagers in November was 7.59%, with GGR of slightly more than $1.02m.
Oregon legalized sports betting in August 2019, but only on professional sports. Wagers are not accepted on college athletics.
