The New Hampshire Lottery has released the official numbers for its sports betting industry in 2022. The market saw a 27% increase in betting handle compared to last year, raking in $892 million in total bets. This brings the total lifetime betting handle for New Hampshire sportsbooks to $1.8 billion since launch.
That has meant an even bigger windfall for the state education fund. New Hampshire reported a $10 million increase in state taxes year over year.
New Hampshire Celebrates Three Years Of Success
Sports betting in the Granite State has been live for three years now. Operators have contributed a total of $62 million to the state’s education fund. This has doubled the initial projections for revenue in the same time period.
“It’s been a fun three years, an exciting three years, and it’s done extremely, extremely well,” said Charlie McIntyre, of the New Hampshire Lottery. “We’re No. 2 per capita in the nation in terms of profitability of the state, which means we don’t have to do things like a state income tax. So, I would give us a solid A-minus — always room for improvement. But you know, gold star.”
The majority of the action has come from the local DraftKings Sportsbook operations. DraftKings is the only online sportsbook available in N.H. and the local bettors have embraced the market.
In addition, the Granite State has benefitted from neighboring Massachusetts betting fans crossing the border to wager. With the looming launch of Massachusetts sports betting on the horizon, officials expect a downtick in activity.
Massachusetts Launch Could Affect NH Going Forward
With its close proximity to Massachusetts, New Hampshire launching sports betting first allowed its market to claim a lot of activity from neighboring bettors. The lottery is expecting the activity to decrease following the launch.
“A quarter of our play comes from Massachusetts,” said McIntyre. “And so, we would expect to see some drop-off, but I wouldn’t imagine it would be much. Certainly, I take solace in the fact that when New York launched, well, the folks from Europe are going to New Jersey. New Jersey didn’t see any drop-off in their revenues.”
Massachusetts will be launching retail sports betting at the end of the month with online expected in March. Because of this, New Hampshire may have experienced the last year of overachieving in betting handle and revenue.
