New York’s online sportsbooks processed nearly $595 million in wagers during the opening week of the 2026 NFL season, setting a new record for an NFL Week 1 since the state introduced mobile sports betting in 2022. While betting activity reached unprecedented levels for an opening weekend, operators experienced a significantly less favorable outcome as customer-friendly results cut deeply into sportsbook revenue.
Data released by the New York State Gaming Commission showed that bettors placed approximately $594.6 million in wagers during the week ending September 13. The figure marked a 12.7% increase compared to the opening week of the 2025 NFL season and ranked as the sixth-highest weekly handle recorded in New York since legal online wagering began.
The surge in betting volume reflected the strong start to the NFL season and continued growth in sports wagering across the state. However, sportsbook operators retained only a small portion of the money wagered, producing one of the weakest NFL regular-season performances on record from a revenue perspective.
According to state figures, New York’s eight mobile sportsbooks generated $16.96 million in gross gaming revenue from the nearly $595 million handle. Revenue fell 44.5% compared with NFL Week 1 a year earlier and declined 62% from the previous week, when college football betting helped drive stronger operator results.
Bettors Benefit From NFL Opening Weekend Results
The opening Sunday of the NFL season produced outcomes that largely favored customers rather than sportsbooks. A combination of successful favorites, high-scoring games, and winning player prop bets contributed to a difficult week for operators.
Eight NFL favorites covered the spread during Sunday’s slate of games. Although the New York Jets and New York Giants entered their matchups as underdogs, both teams secured outright victories. In addition, nine of the day’s 13 games finished above their posted totals, rewarding bettors who backed the over. Player prop markets also generated payouts as several heavily supported touchdown scorers found the end zone.
Joey Feazel, lead football trader for Caesars Sportsbook, summarized the conditions that shaped the week’s results. “Favorites, overs, and touchdown-scorers combined to create a bettor-friendly trifecta on opening Sunday,” Feazel told ESPN .
The impact of those outcomes was reflected in sportsbook hold percentages. Operators collectively posted a hold rate of just 2.9%, meaning they retained less than three cents of every dollar wagered. The figure represented the third-lowest hold recorded during an NFL regular-season week in New York since mobile betting launched.
Only two previous weeks produced lower hold percentages: a 1.9% hold during the week ending October 20, 2024, and a 2.7% hold during the week ending December 18, 2022.
FanDuel and DraftKings Lead Handle Rankings
Despite the challenging results, New York’s largest operators still processed substantial betting volumes.
FanDuel recorded the highest handle among sportsbooks, taking in $224.5 million in wagers. The operator generated $8.3 million in gross revenue after posting a 3.7% hold.
DraftKings followed closely behind with $216.7 million in wagers, marking its first full week in 2026 with a handle exceeding $200 million. However, DraftKings reported the lowest hold among major operators at 2.2%, resulting in $4.7 million in revenue.
Fanatics also experienced a difficult week. Bettors performed particularly well against the sportsbook, limiting its hold to just 1.1% despite generating more than $60 million in handle.
BetMGM retained 2.7% of its $34.5 million handle, while Caesars Sportsbook and Bally Bet each held only slightly above 3% of the money wagered.
Among smaller operators, BetRivers posted the strongest hold rate in the state at 5.8% on $10.4 million in wagers. theScore Bet followed with a 5.6% hold on $7.5 million in betting volume.
The overall handle increased 23% compared with the previous week, highlighting the arrival of the NFL season as a major catalyst for sports betting activity.
Prediction Markets and NFL Trading Continue to Expand
The record-setting opening week for New York sportsbooks coincided with continued growth in prediction markets tied to NFL games.
Kalshi, one of the leading prediction market platforms in the United States, recorded nearly $702 million in NFL-related trading volume during Week 1, according to figures reported by DefiRate.com. That total represented a 211% increase compared with the same period last year.
When NFL combination contracts are included, trading volume surpassed $1 billion. These products allow users to combine multiple positions in a format similar to traditional sports betting parlays.
The Sunday night matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants generated the highest trading activity on Kalshi, attracting $112.8 million in volume. The game also ranked as the largest event on DraftKings’ prediction market and was the sportsbook’s most heavily wagered contest of the weekend.
Other industry indicators pointed to heightened customer engagement. FanDuel reported more active sportsbook users on opening Sunday than on any previous NFL regular-season Sunday. GeoComply, which supplies geolocation technology to much of the U.S. sports betting sector, said it recorded a peak of 8,619 transactions per second with sportsbooks during the day.
The strong opening weekend has reinforced expectations for another substantial NFL betting season. Research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates that sportsbooks and prediction markets in the United States will collectively handle approximately $40 billion in NFL wagering and trading activity during the 2026 season.