New York Sports Betting Handle Falls 6% in NFL Week 3, but Hold Lifts Revenue
New York's mobile sportsbooks took in $573.4 million in bets during NFL Week 3 (the week ending September 27), a 6.2% drop from the prior week's $611.1 million, according to state handle figures reported by Covers.com. Even with less money wagered, statewide gross gaming revenue actually rose to $48.6 million, on an 8.5% hold — the share of handle that sportsbooks kept after paying out winning bets.
Hold rate, not just volume, drove the revenue number
FanDuel led the market with $221.3 million in handle and $20.1 million in revenue, a 9.1% hold. DraftKings followed with $196.2 million in handle and $18.1 million in revenue on a 9.2% hold — its highest revenue figure of the young season. Fanatics took in roughly $65 million in bets, while BetMGM ($33.5 million handle, 8.4% hold), BetRivers ($10.3 million handle, 8.1% hold), theScore Bet ($6.4 million handle, 11.2% hold), and Bally Bet ($3.2 million handle, 11.7% hold) rounded out the market. Caesars posted a comparatively low 3.5% hold for the week.
Hold rate swings like these are a normal part of the business — a book's hold in any single week reflects how favorites and underdogs actually performed against the spread, not a change in pricing, which is why revenue and handle don't always move in the same direction week to week.
Season-to-date revenue still trails last year
Week 3's revenue came in 2.7% higher than the same week of the 2025 NFL season, a modest year-over-year gain. But the first three weeks of the 2026 season combined have produced $104 million in New York sports betting revenue, down 28% from the same three-week stretch a year earlier — a reminder that a single strong week doesn't necessarily signal a turnaround in a market's broader year-over-year trend, which can be affected by factors like how favorites covered across the full slate and how the schedule lined up with the prior season.
New York, which taxes mobile sports betting revenue at a flat 51% rate, remains the largest regulated sports betting market in the country by handle, making its weekly swings a widely watched bellwether for the industry even though its tax structure is far higher than most other states.