Rivers Casino NY Sees New Highs Since Sport Betting
Author: Joe Kizlauskas
Last Updated: 20th April 2022
Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, New York opened up it’s sport betting 30 weeks ago, with the action proving a great new revenue source. Such new highs have executives hoping their overall revenue level is not just a volatile spike.
When the pro football season started, sports betting became the biggest draw for the casino. The Rivers Sportsbook saw an unprecedented amount of action that only grew as the postseason began.
NFL playoffs ‘ second week saw sportsbook pull in a record for revenue from sports gaming. Then, two weeks later, sales doubled. This was followed by a dramatic slowdown since the conclusion of the NFL season. They had their worst week since they started the week after the Super Bowl, and it was even worse two weeks later.
It’s not just the Rivers Casino & Resort that sees this trend. The three non-Indian casinos in New York announced record highs in January, only for the first few weeks of February to see revenues plunge. Before March Madness begins, the pattern is not expected to change.
Justin Moore, the general manager of the Rivers clarified that the decrease in the number of pro sport competitions since the end of the NFL season had a drastic impact on the amount of betting action available. He also clarified that it creates a disproportionate drag or boost on the Rivers sportsbook revenue when a favourite team fails to hit the spread point or when the team that is seen as the underdog wins. Many NBA games have had a detrimental affect on the overall profit.
Nevertheless, Moore clarified that after the Super Bowl, the casino was always anticipating decreasing revenue. In fact, they referred to this week as the “Super Bowl stimulus,” which is expected to put a significant number of bets leading up to the big game.
Moore added that this is not about the casino. Thousands of roulette wheels and slot machines are still in operation, and those revenues will ultimately help “settle into normalised percentages” the amount of revenue the casino receives.
Total gross gambling revenue (GGR) has exceeded $4.05 million since sports betting began at Rivers, while poker yielded slightly less than $3 million in GGR. Table games and slot machines outweigh both, putting together about $95million in GGR.
