Louisiana Sportsbooks Ride Parlay Rout To $56M December Haul

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board reported monthly record gross sports wagering revenue totaling $56.5 million for December, as operators went on a historic rampage when it came to parlay winnings.

The Pelican State also set an all-time monthly record for handle at $377 million, the third straight month bettors raised the standard. Handle was up 48.3% compared to the final month of 2022 and 5.8% versus the $356.5 million wagered in November. Close to $345 million of those wagers came from Louisiana‘s 10 mobile betting apps, also an all-time high.

The previous record for gross revenue was $43.3 million in October, which was also when the previous high for parlay winnings was established at $27.4 million. December left a lot of coal in the stockings of multi-leg bettors, as the house picked up a whopping $43.2 million in winnings off those wagers. The LGCB does not provide handle by sport categories, which results in no hold being available.

The hold on all wagers neared 15%, the seventh-highest in 26 months of wagering. The state was eligible to tax $55.8 million in operator revenue, which led to a record inflow of $7.6 million into state coffers. Louisiana collected $43.8 million in state taxes from sports betting in 2023, up $9.9 million from 2022.

All-time Louisiana handle surpassed $5 billion, with 19.8% of that amount coming from the $1.04 billion worth of accepted wagers in the final three months of 2023.

Pelican State parlays a winning formula

It is difficult to pinpoint where bettors went wrong when it came to parlays in December, though Louisiana is an extreme example of the nationwide trend of the house performing well in such bets to close out 2023. It would not be surprising if a number of bettors had losing parlay tickets after Georgia lost to Alabama in the SEC title game.

It also seems reasonable to assume that the win rate on parlays easily surpassed 20% when compared to other states, especially with December’s revenue being more than three times the $13.7 million reported for November. Maryland sports betting operators had a 19.1% hold in December to claim $48.5 million from $254.8 million handle. A hypothetical like-for-like would put Louisiana’s parlay handle at 45.5% of its overall handle. If that were the case, Louisiana sportsbooks would have had a 25.2% win rate on $171.6 million in multi-leg wagers.

Big parlay revenue numbers, though, are nothing new in the Bayou. It was the ninth time in the last 15 months operators won at least $18 million off those bets. The $219.2 million in full-year parlay revenue for operators was up 44.5% from 2022, an increase of $67.5 million.

Parlays fuel huge year-over-year gains

All those parlay winnings led to a dramatic spike in revenue, with gross winnings up 71.6% from last year at $366.7 million. The win rate jumped nearly 3.4 percentage points to 12.6%, helping revenue easily outpace the 26% rise in handle to $2.9 billion.

Adjusted gross revenue surged 77.4% to $334.1 million, as year-over-year promotional spend increased only $7.2 million to $32.6 million. The LGCB does not provide handle and revenue figures by operator, but it did appear some operators were holding their powder for the start of 2024, which would include the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl LVIII, and NCAA Tournament. The $690,000 outlay in December was down 93% from the $9.9 million in November, when bet365 and ESPN BET started taking action.

Retail sportsbooks were able to eke out a small year-over-year gain, as their $35.8 million in revenue was up 4.8% from 2022 despite handle trending in the opposite direction and declining 14.5% to $293.1 million. The 18 brick-and-mortar venues had a combined 12.2% hold for the year, up 2.25 percentage points versus 2022.