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Delaware didn’t go live with sports betting until January of this year. Because of that, it mostly missed the windfall of NFL betting besides the postseason and Super Bowl.
However, we finally saw how the state performed with sports betting active during the regular season. To no one’s surprise, it was a monster performance — one that smashed records. Keep reading and we’ll tell you all about the month that was September 2024 in Delaware!
Delaware Sets New Records For Betting
The state’s lottery runs all sports betting inside of Delaware. They just released data for September and the result was a handle of $23.2 million. This is the most the state has ever done (in only nine months of business). To put the figure in perspective, it’s higher than the combined totals from July and August.
Online wagering led the way, making up roughly $19 million of the handle. The remaining $4.2 million was shared between the state’s three physical casinos — Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway.
Here’s the thing though: all money is flowing to Delaware’s exclusive betting operator, BetRivers. The state is one of the few that has a monopoly industry. BetRivers signed a deal with Delaware in late 2023 to do the honors. They took over a prior contract, which never got online legal sports betting off the ground despite it being legal since 2018.
BetRivers doesn’t have the brand value of mobile betting app competitors like DraftKings or FanDuel. However, they’ve breathed life into The Fist State’s industry. You got to give them credit because Delaware was falling behind without them at the helm. Here’s the numbers to back it:
BetRivers Shoots Up Year-Over-Year Numbers
Using September numbers, Delaware’s sports betting revenue was up more than 20X year-over-year. Back in September, the state reported just $1.5 million in sports betting handle. This was pre-Bet Rivers and also pre-only betting. Only in-person wagers were being taken at the time.
Obviously, integrating online betting is responsible for the giant gain. However, even in-person bets is up thanks to BetRivers. We said it before, but retail betting for September 2024 was $4.2 million. So that’s almost a 3X improvement on the in-person betting side.
When betting is more accessible, like it is now in Delaware, it creates an entire halo effect around the industry. It attracts more bettors, which talk about it more, which creates more ad spend, and so on. All of this snowballs into a bigger industry, as the numbers prove.
So far this year, Delaware sportsbooks have processed $136.9 million in wagers. Revenue for the 2025 fiscal year has reached $7.5 million, even with July and August each bringing in under $2 million. By comparison, the handle for fiscal revenue at this time last year was $2.3 million, far below the current $7.5 million. See what we mean? BetRivers has absolutely been a boon for Delaware!
Hold Is Impressively High In Delaware
Sports betting revenue is different than total handle. The latter refers to how much money was bet. Revenue, however, accounts for how much money operators keep after paying back winning players.
In September, Delaware also set record revenue numbers. The final figure was $4.7 million. Given the $23.2 million that was wagered, this means the hold was just over 20 percent.
Honestly, this might be the most impressive number of all. We expected record handle numbers, but holds this high are hard to come by. We mean, it’s impressive for a state to barely hit double digits (10 percent), little less doubling that.
Why so high? We honestly don’t know. Are Delaware bettors just this bad at gambling? Possibly because this number is just bonkers even if BetRivers encouraged parlay betting, which typically increases hold — just not this much.
NFL Betting Leads To Biggest Month Ever
Theres zero doubt about it, the return of the NFL (and even college football) is why Delaware — and other legal states — are seeing monster returns in September.
It’s been a slow summer without football betting. Sports like the MLB, UFC, or soccer just don’t do the type of betting volume that the NFL does. Matter of fact, a report by the American Gaming Association (AGA) said NFL betting by itself will account for $35 billion in wagers this year — compared to $26.7 billion in 2023. That’s not a small difference year over year.
Delaware does not house an NFL team. However, that’s not all that bad. Due to its central location in the Northeast, the state has tons of nearby pro teams. The closest ones include the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Washington Commandeers. But even the New York teams aren’t that far away. Besides the NY teams, the other three are highly competitive this year.
The good news? Football will remain on the calendar until February. That means the state will likely continuing setting records, certainly during the regular season which ends in early January. Keep checking back here for new data releases, which we’ll be writing about in depth.
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