Sportsbook operators in New Hampshire saw a record handle of $99.5m in January, according to figures released Thursday by the New Hampshire Lottery.
The previous record for handle was $98.1m, set in October 2021.
The Granite State legalized sports betting in July 2019, with the first wagers taken on December 30 of that year. NH Lottery reports monthly results for a fiscal year ending on June 30.
The first fiscal year, ending June 30, 2020, included a two-day “month” for December 2019, and then the pandemic shutting down most major sports in March 2020. Handle for that FY was $67.1m.
Fiscal Year 2021 saw several months of handle in excess of $40m, topped by $59.7m in January 2021.
The current fiscal year has seen a series of new records for handle. After just $36.7m and $36.3m in July and August 2021, New Hampshire books took $68.1m in bets in September, followed by the aforementioned $98.1m in October, $83.1m in November and then $86.4m in December, leading up to the new record last month.
Total handle for all of Fiscal Year 2021 was $520.6. After just seven months, FY 2022 has seen $508.5m in wagers.
Mobile sports betting has led the way to the recent booming handle numbers. New Hampshire topped $50m in mobile handle for the first time in September 2021 with $50.4m, then promptly set a new record the following month with $68.1m. November and December saw $62.3m and $65.5m in mobile handle, respectively, before January’s record mobile handle of $81.5m.
Retail sportsbooks actually saw a decline in handle in January, to $17.9m, from $20.8m in both November and December 2021.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) has been on a roller coaster ride during the current fiscal year, but it set a record in January 2022. After reaching an all-time high with $5.4m in October 2021, then a new high with $6.1m in November, GGR slumped to $2.6m in December as players won more. Last month, the books struck back as GGR topped $8m.
The state’s share of revenue was a record $3.8m in January 2022. Books have contributed more than $14.5m in the seven months of the current fiscal year, after a total of $17.9m during FY 2021.
