sports news
How NY Became Sportsbook Goldmine
New York delivered $26.3 billion in sports wagers during 2025, a 15.8% surge. Gross revenue hit $2.55 billion. But here's the uncomfortable truth: FanDuel and DraftKings controlled 76%. These numbers reveal exactly what happens when competition collapses into a duopoly.
The Duopoly Problem
Here's the uncomfortable truth hiding in those gleaming figures: FanDuel and DraftKings controlled 76% of all revenue in 2025. That's not competition. That's market consolidation on a scale that should alarm regulators and concern consumers alike.
FanDuel alone surpassed $1.1 billion in annual revenue, with November delivering a record $131.9 million in a single month. DraftKings, while trailing its rival, captured substantial handle with a consistent market share. The remaining six operators, Caesars, BetMGM, Fanatics, Rush Street Interactive, and newcomer TheScore Bet, fought over the leftover 24%.
This matters because duopolies breed complacency. When two players control three-quarters of a market, they set the terms: pricing, odds margins, promotional intensity, and feature innovation all tend to stagnate. Smaller competitors can't invest in product differentiation because they lack scale. Customers have fewer genuine alternatives.
The New York market is repeating a pattern we saw in other regulated sports betting states. Early promise of competitive vitality turns into quiet consolidation. The empire builders (FanDuel, DraftKings) crush smaller rivals through brand dominance and marketing spend, not necessarily through superior products.
The ESPN Bet Collapse and Market Shuffling
December brought a telling moment: Penn Entertainment's ESPN Bet shut down abruptly, and TheScore Bet launched within weeks to claim its abandoned licences. TheScore debuted with $42.5 million in handle and $3.6 million in revenue during its first month of operation.
This isn't success. This is market failure mitigated by regulatory flexibility. ESPN Bet represented the last genuine attempt by a major media company to disrupt the sportsbook duopoly. It failed spectacularly. Penn took an $825 million write-down in late 2025 and withdrew from the category entirely. That's not normal. That's an industry-wide signal that scale and brand matter far more than innovation or partnership prestige.
TheScore's arrival offers hope but also highlights desperation. New York regulators needed someone to fill the void. TheScore obliged, but nobody credibly believes it'll crack the duopoly. It simply inherits ESPN's orphaned customers.
What the Numbers Actually Mean
The 25% revenue growth is real and impressive. But decompose it further: the average hold rate rose from 9 to 9.7%, meaning operators extracted slightly more margin from bettors. December's exceptional 10.9% hold rate suggests operators benefited from seasonal betting peaks (NFL playoffs, college football bowls) rather than sustained operational excellence.
Here's the dangerous part: New York is cannibalising its own growth narrative. When FanDuel and DraftKings control three-quarters of revenue, their quarterly earnings calls dominate investor attention. But neither company is publicly traded as a pure-play sportsbook. Their valuations reflect broader iGaming and sports media holdings. New York's triumph becomes a footnote in larger earnings stories.
For consumers, the £26.3 billion figure is almost meaningless. What matters is whether they're receiving fair odds, transparent terms, and competitive pricing. With 76% of the market owned by two operators, the answer is: not as much as they should.
Looking Ahead to 2026
New York has demonstrated that legalised, regulated sports betting works. Consumers embrace it. Tax revenues justify the regulatory overhead. But the market has also revealed regulatory capture in miniature: consolidation moves faster than competition can counter it.
The next battleground is whether New York's Gaming Commission will actively preserve competitive dynamics or passively accept a duopoly. Four years in, the choice matters more than it ever did.
