PA Sports Betting Handle Skyrockets in September With Barstool Sportsbook App

With sports returning in summer of 2020, all eyes were on September as the first booming month for sports betting. For the first time, NBA, NFL, NHL, CFB, PGA and other sports were all happening at the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some disturbances in the sports world. As for the sports betting handle in September in Pennsylvania, it did not disappoint. Sports bettors wagered over $460M in PA in the month of September, which coincidentally was the first month of Barstool Sportsbook in the state. Let’s take a deeper look at how sports betting did in the month of September, along with the outlook of the market with Barstool Sportsbook.

PA Sports Betting Handle Surpasses $460M in September

What a month it was for sports betting in Pennsylvania, as bettors certainly decided to wager on a plethora of sports for the month to a total of over $460M. With the pandemic still in effect in PA for the most part, the overwhelming majority of the betting handle took place via mobile wagering. $414.1M of the total $462.8M was wagered via mobile devices, with just $48.7M wagered at retail locations. Here’s a quick look:

Barstool Sportsbook Nears $30M in Handle in September

Barstool Sportsbook launched in September of 2020, and gathered $30M of sports betting handle in just under two weeks of business. Despite missing Week 1 of the NFL season and 17 full days of September, Barstool Sportsbook took 7.2% of the market share in Pennsylvania and was at $30M of sports betting handle. That is quite impressive, and is a testament to Barstool’s audience and overall reach.

Per the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s September report, Hollywood Casino (Barstool Sportsbook) took $29,883,071 in betting handle for September. What is interesting is they reported a $655K loss, due to promotional credits and a good month from the bettors. It will be interesting to see how bettors respond to the launch of the Barstool Sportsbook app, as it is already extremely popular.

DraftKings and FanDuel still lead the way in Pennsylvania

While Barstool Sportsbook certainly will make a dent, DraftKings Sportsbook and FanDuel Sportsbook are still the “kings” of Pennsylvania online sports betting. Here is a look at how each book fared in terms of betting handles in September:

As you can see, FanDuel Sportsbook (Valley Forge) took over $168M in bets for September, controlling 36.3% of the market. Right behind them was DraftKings Sportsbook (Meadows), who took $116.5M in bets for the month. Combined, the two iGaming monsters controlled over 61% of the total market share in the state of Pennsylvania. While Barstool Sportsbook is off to a good start, they have a ways to go to garner a large share of the sports betting handle for the state.