Sportsbook operators in New Hampshire took in $70.8m in bets during February, according to figures released Wednesday by the New Hampshire Lottery.
That was down from January’s record handle of $99.5m, but represented a 39% improvement from the $50.9m wagered in February 2021.
Mobile sports betting accounted for slightly more than $59m of February’s handle, with $11.7m in wagers placed at the state’s retail books.
The total handle of $70.8m was better than eight of 12 months last year.
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 $98.1m in October, $83.1m in November and then $86.4m in December, leading up to the record mark in January.
Total handle for all of Fiscal Year 2021 was $520.6. After eight months, FY 2022 has seen $579.3m 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 have seen a decline in handle for two straight months after $20.8m in both November and December 2021. In January 2022 terrestrial books took $17.9m in wagers, followed by $11.7m in February.
Gross gaming revenue (GGR) has been on a roller coaster ride during the current fiscal year, but it set a record with $8m 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.
In February, GGR was barely over $1m.
The state’s share of revenue was a record $3.8m in January 2022, but that figure dropped to $458,353 last month. Books have contributed more than $15m in the eight months of the current fiscal year, after a total of $17.9m during FY 2021.
