Sports Betting Handles Way Down in July

As would be expected, the sports betting handles for US regulated sportsbooks were down significantly as this is traditionally the slowest sports betting period of the year.  One bright spot in 2021: The Summer Olympics.

Pennsylvania sportsbooks witnessed the steepest decline.  Handle dropped 27.6% to $304.4 million, keeping in mind that the handle had not fallen below $400 million since last August.

New Jersey sports betting handle fell 25%, falling below $600 million for the first time since last July.

Michigan sportsbooks saw handle fall 20.5% to $206.3 million.

For the month of August, US regulated sportsbooks are shut out of the Little League World Series due to prohibitions on bets taken on events featuring minors.  The LLWS has performed quite well for offshore sportsbooks that allow such wagering. BetOnline continues to take bets on LLWS games daily and also offered futures for each team last week.

And while it is true that US regulated sportsbooks did offer betting on the Tokyo Summer Olympics, Gambling911.com estimates better than 60% of the action for offshore bookmakers originated outside the US over that two-week period.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com