The sports wagering revenue for December on Monday, closing out the first full year of betting in the Sunflower State on a positive note.
Operator winnings topped the previous high of $25.4 million established in October. The statewide hold of 11.9% was fourth-highest all-time, up five percentage points from November while reaching double digits for the sixth time in 2023.
Handle totaled $259.7 million, coming within shouting distance of November’s $260.9 million and up 42.7% from the final month of 2022. It was also enough to put Kansas‘ handle above $2 billion in its first full calendar year of legal wagering.
Kansas received just over $2 million in taxes for December, the first time state coffers accepted more than $2 million worth of receipts in a month since launching in September 2022. Taxes for the entire calendar year edged above $10 million and climbed over $12.1 million overall.
ESPN BET: Handle up, promo spend down 414z
December #SportsBetting numbers 🧵for #Kansas via @Kansas_Lottery. Han/GGR/WR by mobile book (3/6)@ESPNBet $22.61M/$2.72M/12.04%
2023 (w/@PENNEntertain) $124.4M/~$9.5M/7.63%10/x #SportsBettingX #GamblingX
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 15, 2024
Kansas was considered a state where betting apps, its $22.6 million worth of accepted wagers was up 5% from November.
ESPN BET’s market share edged higher from 8.6% to 9.1%, but the other key metric when it comes to handle — promotional spend — showed that the sportsbook is trending in the right direction. It offered nearly $2.5 million worth of credits, down 61% from the $6.3 million outlay that came with the mid-November launch, and actually finished second behind DraftKings ($3.1 million) in of promotional spend by mobile operators.
PENN’s sportsbook made it back-to-back months with 12% holds, resulting in $2.7 million in gross revenue. It totaled $5.4 million combined in November and December while posting a win rate of 12.2%.
DraftKings continued to be the overall leader among available betting apps, topping $100 million handle for the third straight month at $103.8 million. An 11.5% hold led to $11.9 million in gross winnings, second only to the $12.5 million claimed in October.
FanDuel was a clear No. 2 with its best month to date in Kansas. It cracked eight digits in gross winnings for the first time at $10.3 million, crafting an 11.9% win rate from an all-time high handle of $86.5 million. The strong December, though, was not enough to get FanDuel to a 10% hold for 2023, finishing three-hundredths of a percentage point short.
BetMGM walloped Kansas bettors with a state-best 17.2% hold in December to claim $3.9 million in revenue. It was the sportsbook’s best month since opening with more than $4.7 million in September 2022, and unlike FanDuel, BetMGM had a strong enough December to push its 2023 hold above 10%.
The statewide mobile hold was a shade below 12%, as the six apps claimed $29.8 million in gross revenue from $249.1 million handle. That lifted the full-year hold to 8.8%, as the sextet won $177.5 million from $2.03 billion worth of bets.
Retail books reach seven figures 326j9
While not reaching the lofty hold of their mobile counterparts, Kansas’ four retail sportsbooks held their own with a combined 10.1% win rate to keep $1.1 million of the $10.6 million wagered. Those winnings trailed only the $1.2 million-plus attained in October for an all-time high.
That strong close to 2023 put a positive bounce on Kansas’ full-year numbers, as the retail books had a collective 5.2% hold on $94.3 million handle to create $4.9 million in winnings. The two individual seven-figure wins in 2023, though, were still less than the $1.8 million in losses absorbed in February after the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII.
In the four months when year-over-year comparisons are available, the $989.6 million handle accumulated from September through December was up 37.7%, while gross revenue increased 20.9% to $92.5 million.
