New Hampshire online sports betting declined on a month-by-month basis for the third consecutive month, recording US$32.87m in wagers for August.
A small growth in retail handle to US$10.5m saw overall wagering in the state increase narrowly, but insignificantly. The online GGR received by New Hampshire was also the lowest since August 2021, owing largely due to the inherent lack of typical American betting fixtures.
The months of September 2021 – May 2022 saw consistently strong handle, peaking around NBA Finals and the Superbowl, with US$82m in January 2022 the record online handle taken by the state. New Hampshire will be hoping, and will assume that the resumption of the NFL along with the NBA will spur on growth in handle.
In addition, the soccer world cup lands in the middle of some of the densest months of American sport fixtures (which is typically unusual given it takes place in Jun-July). Given the venue is Qatar, for player safety the dates have been shuffled to take place in the Winter.
How will the world cup impact handle?
The impact of the FIFA World Cup moving to a busy time where it may clash with the NFL and NBA calendar will be intriguing for analysts. The World Cup is one of few sporting events in which operators will expect to attract significant handle, especially given the present of the USMNT in the tournament. All eyes will be on whether handle will increase, or instead it will just spread more thinly across multiple sports.
Regardless, August is expected to be the nadir of the curve when it comes to handle for this year’s sports betting handle. Barring another global pandemic, strong growth will be expected hereon in with marketing ramped up around key sporting events, too.
