Sportsbooks Enjoy Spoils of May with Help from Parlays

The saying is that “April showers bring May flowers.” In the case of sports betting, those May flowers were again large bouquets for sportsbooks as they cleaned up for the second straight year across the United States.

May is an interesting month in the sports calendar. The Major League Baseball season gets into full swing with a daily active calendar. The NBA and NHL are usually into the second round of their respective postseasons, an important factor for sportsbooks as futures wagers are being processed when teams are eliminated from postseason consideration.

Beyond the United States, European domestic soccer leagues are completing seasons, with futures wagers processed at a variety of levels—league winners at the top of the table, relegated teams at the bottom, and sides teams qualifying for Champions League among other wagering options. The calendar provided an odd quirk this year as Europe’s top club competition—the Champions League—had only two matches contested in May as the first leg of the semifinals were played at the end of April and the final was contested June 1.

Post-pandemic wagering in the United States in the month of May has grown substantially year-over-year (please see Figure 1). Some of that is due to more states entering the marketplace with each passing year—there were 34 states and jurisdictions conducting commercial sports betting in May 2024 compared to 20 in May 2021 — but the mainstream acceptance of sports betting that includes leagues sportsbooks as official league sponsors means there is plenty of availability.

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Fig. 1.

May U.S. Sports Betting Handle, 2021–24.

While 2020 was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the combined total of May handle in 2019 and 2020 barely eclipsed $1 billion. As Table 1 shows (please see Table 1), handle has increased by substantial double-digit margins year-over-year. There was a point back in 2021 when there was hopeful optimism for a $5 billion national monthly handle during football season, which is still when the highest monthly handles are attained. This past May, more than $10 billion was legally wagered across the U.S., a staggering figure for a still-young industry.

And as handle increased from year to year, revenue expectedly followed (please see Figure 2 and Table 2). But the success of sportsbooks each year meant those gains most years outpaced the rise in handle. The national hold on gross sportsbook revenue surpassed the 7% industry standard each year from 2021–24, reaching a peak of 11.26% in 2023 (please see Figure 3). Despite the “dip” from 2023 to 2024 to 10.49%, a hold that was still 50% above the industry standard meant there were no complaints from sportsbooks.

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Fig. 2.

May U.S. Sports Betting Gross Revenue, 2021–24.

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Fig. 3.

May U.S. Sports Betting Hold on Gross Revenue, 2021–24.

In the five states where year-over-year comparisons for sport-specific categories were available—Illinois, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, and South Dakota—basketball handle increased in all five states. While win rates increased only in three, the substantial handle increases meant more revenue was generated in terms of actual dollars.

A similar phenomenon occurred in hockey—four states had year-over-year rises in handle, four states saw holds increase, and all five reported increases in revenue.

Another area where sportsbooks posted notable revenue gains came from an expected place—parlay wagering. The evolution of the marketplace where sportsbooks actively (some could say relentlessly) market the multi-leg bets, be it single-game, single-sport, or multi-sport means operators are getting higher holds that are offsetting the potential success bettors may enjoy with single-event wagering.

As (please correct text to Table 3) Table 4 shows (please see Table 3), handle for parlay in the four largest states where handle and revenue figures were published in both 2023 and 2024 showed notable double-digit increases in handle. That translated into year-over-year increases in revenue, even in the cases of Illinois and New Jersey where the May 2024 was lower than May 2023 but remained above 20% (please see Table 4).

Multi-sport parlay wagers specific to ones processed in May sometimes bring an increased degree of difficulty to attain success for bettors. A popular bet is to parlay the champions of the four major U.S. professional sports. Thus, it is possible many bettors entered the month of May having tickets, in which they successfully predicted the Texas Rangers winning the World Series last November and the Kansas City Chiefs repeating as Super Bowl champions in February while making similar NBA and NHL picks early in those respective regular seasons.

In the case of Colorado bettors, it would be reasonable to believe such wagers included the Denver Nuggets, who were looking to win a second consecutive NBA title. The Nuggets, though, were eliminated in the conference semifinals by the Minnesota Timberwolves and dashed hopes of those bettors. This could partially explain the nearly five-point rise in hold percentage compared to 2023 for parlays in May in the Centennial State.

The four states referenced combined for more than $612 million worth of parlay wagers, a not insignificant total independently. In the bigger picture, that total represented 25.7% of the $2.38 billion in overall wagers placed in May. Even without exactly extrapolating those figures nationwide, it becomes clearer how sportsbooks have come to enjoy the month of May in recent years.