Sportsbooks See Increase in Handle in May
To say that it’s been a rough time for sports fans the last couple months is like pointing out that the grass is green, the sky is blue and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It makes Captain Obvious blush with how blatantly clear that is. One thing that most sports fans don’t necessarily think about is how badly the sportsbooks have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Take a moment to think about this. There was no March Madness. The NBA and NHL seasons have been paused since mid-March: both would be in the midst of their postseasons at this point. Each of those are big drawing points for bettors and the sportsbooks. The MLB season was slated to start on March 26 only to have that postponed: as of this point, the season has not yet begun and the two sides have only recently begun coming together about finding a way to get back to playing games.
In the last couple of weeks, things have started to turn around on the sports front. The UFC has aired three events since May 9, including UFC 249 which racked up more than 700,000 PPV buys according to reports. That was a massive response for the return of a live sporting event for the first time in nearly two months. UFC 249 proved to be the most prolific betting event in MMA history for the DraftKings Sportsbook, even before the main card had actually even kicked off.
Sports fans have been graced with ESPN signing a deal to televise baseball from the KBO in South Korea, along with the CPBL playing in Taiwan since last month. Throw in the return of NASCAR and the German Bundesliga over the past weekend plus a match-play exhibition golf match between the team of Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff for a pretty solid week of sports after an extended period with none.
It worked out pretty well for the sportsbooks according to reports as well. The sudden return of sports has really bolstered the take at sportsbooks across the country. At Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada, the handle in the first two weeks of May has already blown past the entire total that they took in during the month of April. Alistair Overeem, who was battered early in the main event of the UFC card Saturday night before rallying to win by TKO in the second round over Walt Harris, proved to be the biggest moneymaker for the house over the weekend. Meanwhile, soccer has been the big sport on PointsBet when it comes to the size of the handle.
When it came to NASCAR, the Real Heroes 400, won by Kevin Harvick, drew a lot of interest at the sportsbooks. Reports put the interest level at the same amount that they would see for the Daytona 500, which is the opening race of the NASCAR season and one that is highly anticipated every year. Meanwhile, FanDuel stated that the handle on the TaylorMade Driving Relief matchup drew nearly twice the handle that a normal PGA event would bring to the table. All in all, it added up to the biggest week for sportsbooks since mid-March, when the whole COVID-19 pandemic began.
With more golf on the way this week, including the highly anticipated The Match: Champions for Charity with Tiger Woods teaming with Peyton Manning to face Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady, interest should be through the roof for that particular sport. In addition, NASCAR has multiple races on the books to go this week, while UFC takes the week off as their card initially slated for May 23 has been moved back a week to May 30. There is plenty of soccer to be had and with the KBO plus the CPBL running right now, there’s plenty of things for sports fans to put some action on. At the end of the day, an increased handle is better for the sportsbooks and the sharps, who may be able to cash in on some favorable bets. It’s a nice change of pace to see a surge in handles after such an extended drought of nothing.