September Sports Overlap Spikes US Betting To Record Height Since Legalization

During the introductory surge of COVID-19 where we saw the shutdown of all sports from collegiate to professional leagues, not only did we miss out on the wagering opportunities of annual sporting events such as March Madness but there was a desolate landscape for sports betting in general. 

Fast-forward to September, where the realm of sports betting did a complete 180, with more sporting events and overlapping playoffs than anytime we’ve ever experienced. And with that, the sports gambling industry set a new record since sports betting was federally legalized in 2018. 

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According to SportsHandle.com’s Chris Altruda, “Seventeen states and the District of Columbia — all places for legalized sports betting — combined to generate a total handle of nearly $2.9 billion, the highest cumulative handle recorded in any month since legal sports betting began spreading soon after PASPA was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2018.”

With simultaneous occasions of the NFL and NCAA football opening their 2020 seasons, NBA and NHL in the midst of their bubble playoff formats, and MLB rounding out their condensed regular season, are you at all surprised at the wagering boom in September? Following several months where getting your sports gambling fix required that you pick up the eSports encyclopedia to verse yourself on League of Legends and Counter-Strike clans, the collective buffet of traditional sports returning made for a kid-in-a-candy-store moment with many of us aching of wager deprivation. 

Now including two newer legalized markets in Illinois and Colorado, who each went live in March and May respectively, the overall September handle in the US exceeding $2.86 billion was evidently propelled in part by Chicago. 

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Altruda states, “Any doubts about whether Executive Order 2020-41 could help turn Chicago — the third-largest market in the U.S. — into a sports betting engine powering Illinois were put to rest as the Illinois Gaming Board reported a handle of nearly $305 million for September. That figure has plenty of upside to tap considering two of the five mobile sportsbook operators were not operational for the entire month.”

And what would setting sports betting records be without the strident waves made by the state of New Jersey? “A handle of nearly $748.6 million, which bettered its own previous record from August, dwarfed Nevada’s $575.1 million tally.” It would appear that New Jersey’s surges in 2020 have them pacing to perhaps someday overthrow the Nevada stranglehold as the top dog in sports betting revenue and handle.

What will be interesting to see is when the sports-barren month of November is reported nationwide, where an exclusive measure of NFL and NCAA football can be gauged in regards to marketplace attraction when there isn’t much else to contend with them (besides UFC, which runs congruent to every sport while being active year-round).

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