New York Sees Record Handle for The NFL’s Opening Week

New York bettors were busy to kick off the 2026 NFL season.

The New York State Gaming Commission released its Week 1 revenue report, showing a handle of $594.6 million. That is up from the opening week of NCAA football, when the state saw around $483.3 million in gross gaming revenue from online sports betting.

This set a new opening-week record for the state, which launched the country’s largest online sports betting market in January 2022.

Rough Week for Sportsbooks

While the state saw an uptick in wagers, sportsbooks still had a rough weekend.

The massive handle led to just $16.9 million in gross gaming revenue. This represents a massive drop from the week before, when the state saw $44.8 million. 

The disappointing revenue numbers reflect bettors winning at a higher rate. This has been an issue for many states during the NFL season. Some of it can be blamed on favored teams winning at a higher rate, though bettors' experience is also a factor.

New York’s GGR from the week was the lowest it's been since the opening week of the 2026 World Cup. 

Good News for the Industry

It is too early to know how the first week of the NFL season went in other betting states, but New York’s success is a good sign for regulated sports betting.

Before the NFL season began, the American Gaming Association shared its handle projections. For the first time since PASPA was overturned in 2018, the group predicted no real growth in handle. It attributed this to the rise of sports prediction markets, whose volume it didn’t include in the projection.

While bettors won at a high rate in New York, its record-high handle signals that the season may not be as disappointing as the AGA believes. 

Problem Gambling on the Rise

New York’s State Comptroller's Office recently released its gaming revenue report for the last fiscal year. While sports betting continued to grow, the report also found that problem gambling continues to rise. 

The report shows an 8.5% uptick in traffic to the state’s HOPELine since 2020. The biggest increase came when the state launched online betting in 2022, making it largely responsible for the troubling stat.

It also shows the impact of prediction platforms, whose sports markets now account for most of the overall volume.

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