Louisiana Sports Betting Handle Sets Mark; Revenue a Different Story

It has been a fall to remember for Louisiana’s sportsbooks and casinos, with monthly gains in both camps for November. The state reset its sports betting handle record last month, but that was not reflected in the revenue.

For the Pelican State’s sportsbooks, October saw a 5.1% jump in handle, from $255,528,321 to $268,638,967.

That November handle smashed the state’s single-month sports betting handle (set in October), while taxes and sports betting revenue dropped during the penultimate month of the year.

Louisiana’s sports betting revenue figure was minus-$25,622,399 in November, thanks in large part to the huge baseball wagers put down by Texas mattress tycoon Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who is noted for betting millions on the World Series champion Houston Astros.

For the October Louisiana sports betting revenue report, the state made $30,243,842.

The state’s sports betting tax cut also fell 1.4%, month-over-month, from $4,305,414 to $4,244,196.

Here’s what else stood out from November’s sports betting and casino report out of Louisiana.

Louisiana’s overall and mobile sports betting handles set new records for the state in November, while the state’s retail wagering haul declined slightly during the month, according to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.

The mobile handle was $233,703,879 in November, representing a 6.7% jump from October, which also held the previous record in the state.

As for retail sportsbooks in Louisiana, the results weren’t quite as rosy, dropping 4.3% month-over-month, from $36,487,715 to $34,935,088.

Louisiana’s November handle ranks fourth nationally out of the 11 states that have reported wagers for the month, behind New York ($1.56 billion), New Jersey ($1.101B) Indiana ($452.32 million), and Tennessee ($439.46M), and ahead of several others, such as Iowa ($247.48M) and Maryland ($219.07M).

The good news from Louisiana wasn’t exclusive to sports betting in November, with casinos in the state reporting a slight increase during the month. There are no online gambling sites in Louisiana.

In total, the state’s casinos raked in $243,805,986 in casino revenues during November, which represented a 0.7% increase from the $241,998,013 they made in October.

The difference in revenues came from a slight increase in riverboat casino and land casino gross gaming revenues, as Louisiana’s video gaming handle declined during November.

The first two camps climbed slightly, from $130,990,774 to $135,377,994 (riverboat casinos) and $22,344,295 to $23,318,809 (land casino gross gaming revenues). Video gaming revenues dropped from $62,967,456 to $61,664,961 and racinos fell from $25,695,488 to $23,444,222 in November.

Though there are several ways to wager in the state, Louisiana does not offer any real money slots app options, nor any online casino or card games.

November also saw the sale of Bossier City’s shuttered Diamond Jacks Casino to Foundation Gaming, with plans to reopen the facility in 2024, according to The Times of Shreveport.

The company plans to revamp the casino through a $200 million renovation campaign, replacing the shuttered riverboat facility with the region’s first land-based casino. The new casino will have a different name than the one that’s graced the facility for the last few years, after initially opening as the Isle of Capri Casino.

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