Louisiana poised for a sports betting boom with football season here

Nearly 154 million sports wagers were placed in Louisiana during August — bringing in more than $2.1 million in state taxes — and the start of football season is expected to drive up betting even higher.

The state had nearly 26 million more wagers in August 2023 than it did in August 2022, a difference of more than 20%. This year, nearly 1.6 billion wagers have been placed in Louisiana between the brick-and-mortar and online sportsbooks, and the state saw about $1.4 billion wagered through July, according to Legal Sports Report.

Now Louisiana is moving into what is expected to be the biggest time of year for sports betting.

“I know we’re moving into football season, and we should see some substantial numbers there, I would think,” said Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chair Ronnie Johns during a meeting Thursday.

Johns’ theory isn’t without evidence. In 2022, the first full year with legal sports betting in Louisiana, the state saw the bulk of its wagers and tax revenue come during the football season.

The college football season kicked in late August, with the regular season ending in early December, though postseason and bowl games continue into early January. The NFL regular season runs from early September until early January, with the postseason running until the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, 2024.

The seven months with college or NFL games in 2022 — January, February, August, September, October, November and December — accounted for more than 1.4 billion wagers, about 63% of the total placed that year. They also accounted for about 63.2% of the taxes paid to the state during the year, and 62.6% of the total amount bet that year.

Even if you only look at the four full months with college or NFL games — September, October, November and December — the season made up about 42.7% of the total wagers, 49.3% of the total taxes, and 42.8% of the total amount bet during the year, despite only making up about a third of the year.

So far this year, Louisiana has seen a substantial increase in sports betting activity compared to 2022. The state has had about 1.6 billion total wagers placed this year, an increase of nearly 20% from the 1.3 billion placed during January through August 2022. 

The sportsbooks, both retail and mobile, have brought in about $174.6 million in net proceeds in 2023, an increase of nearly $59 million or 50.9% from the same point last year. The tax revenue for the state has grown by $4.7 million or 27.2% from this time last year, from $17.3 million to $21.9 million. 

The $1.4 billion that was bet in Louisiana through July was up more than $237.7 million or 20% from this time last year.

If Louisiana sees numbers comparable to 2022 during the height of football season, Louisiana should see a significant increase over 2022’s year end numbers. Generally speaking, the state has seen monthly totals exceed the totals from the same month in 2022, which bodes well for the end of this year.

On average, the monthly wagers have been up about 1.4% this year from their counterparts in 2022, with the exception of January, since mobile betting did not launch until near the end of the month. It’s also tough to gauge because the difference varies wildly from month to month. For example, the state saw a 7.1% increase in wagers during March from March 2022, but the state saw a 17.1% decrease in February (something Johns said might’ve occurred since the Cincinnati Bengals and former LSU stars Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase did not make it back to the Super Bowl in 2023).