Delaware Online Gaming Decreases in February As Does Sports Betting
@jdtomlin68
Online gaming in Delaware got off to a hot start in January, but cooled off in February.
The real money online casino figures for the second month of 2022 saw a decline in a month-over-month comparison.
But that fall was minor compared to sports betting in the state. Here are three takeaways from Delaware gaming in February.
Online Gaming Down by Double Digits
The iGaming handle (amount bet) in Delaware for February was $24,433,273, according to numbers posted Friday by the Delaware Lottery. That was down 16.4% from January’s total of $29,215,981.
February’s handle was the 10th highest in Delaware history. All 10 have come since early 2020, when COVID-19 restrictions closed down physical casinos and drove more customers to get their casino gaming online.
The iGaming revenue in February was $843,247. That was a decline of 24.8% from January’s $1,121,345, which was the second-highest total in state history, behind only the $1.134 million reported in May 2020.
That February revenue total was the lowest in the state since September 2021, when it was $794,644.
Poker Rake Falls As Well
The poker rake and fees collected for February came to $32,281, off by nearly $10,000 compared to January’s $41,468. Delaware is one of seven states offering online poker, along with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, West Virginia and Connecticut.
Those states all offer other forms of online gambling except for Nevada.
Delaware does not have as large of a pool of players as those other states, with a population slightly under 1,000,000 according to the latest estimates.
End of Bonanza For Sports Betting
Delaware’s sports betting handle for February was less than half of what it was in January, but the state’s unique system of sports wagers makes that entirely predictable.
The state has no mobile betting, only retail options at the state’s three commercial casinos. But the reason for such a precipitous from each February and throughout the spring and early summer in Delaware, is that the state’s lottery outlets only offer parlay cards, and only during football season.
Delaware Sports Betting, February vs. January
| Total handle | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| February | $5.435M | $54,281 |
| January | $12.637M | $1.914M |
| Change | Down 57.0% | Down 97.2% |
Note: There is no mobile sports betting in Delaware.
And of course February, though it has the Super Bowl, only offers that one football game (not counting the lackluster Pro Bowl).
The total sports betting handle in February was $5,435,407, with $5,229,824 from retail sportsbooks and just $205,583 from sports lottery retailers. That was a 57.0% decline from January when the total was $12,637,103 ($8,390,110 from sportsbooks, $4,246,993 from sports lottery retailers).
The revenue figures were even less promising. The month delivered just $54,281 in sports betting revenue, with the sportsbooks netting $98,135 but lottery retailers losing $43,854. That’s very little compared to the $1.914 million in January – a decline of 97.2%, in fact.
With no mobile sports betting, Delaware had no chance to make up for the loss of more than 100 lottery outlets as sports betting options. In 2021, the sports betting handle in the state never exceeded $7.5 million in any month from February through August. Expect that trend to continue in the state until football season starts again in autumn.
Contributors
Jim Tomlin has more than 30 years of experience in sports journalism as an editor and writer. He has covered pro and college sports from football, baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, motorsports and more for publications such as the Tampa Bay Times, SaturdayDownSouth.com, SaturdayTradition.com and FanRag Sports. He now lends his expertise to TopUSCasinos.com, among other duties.
