As it turns out, New York hit quite a jackpot in daily fantasy sports during football season last year with the state collecting more than $2.8 million in tax revenues from DFS operators between August and January. What does it say about daily fantasy sports market for 2017?

An article from the Albany Times-Union detailed revenue figures from the New York State Gaming Commission regarding paid-entry fantasy sports. The report stated that: New York operators — including industry titans DraftKings and FanDuel — took in nearly $180.4 million in entry fees from New York players, a nearly 10 percent chunk of more than $1.8 billion from all players. The report touted November as the most lucrative month in New York for companies, making it the most lucrative for the state, which collected a 15 percent tax on in-state gross revenues and an additional smaller tax that does not exceed $50,000 annually per operator.
New York had enacted a law legalizing and regulating fantasy sports in August, taxing gross revenue from sites like DraftKings and FanDuel.

So how lucrative is DFS going to be in 2017?

The Times-Union reported on revenue from the time that law took effect to January. Companies generated more than $18.6 million in gross revenue on which taxes were collected in New York during that period.

New York is just a tip of an ice berg

The Times-Union reported $180 million figure as roughly 10 percent of all DFS revenue generated by the industry over that same timeframe.

That generally falls in line with an estimate from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, putting handle for worldwide DFS at $3.2 billion for all of 2016.

Fantasy sports providers with a focus on daily fantasy football can plan their market offering newer and more unique features to players. There are several ways new fantasy sports businesses can adopt in order to stand out in a lucrative market such as this. Just as we often advise fantasy sports startups, we want you too to see the bigger picture more clearly as you consider building a daily fantasy sports (niche) platform. Of course, we are always around to answer your queries personally.