Sports betting apps brought in more than $2.8 million in wagers on football in August – which had a few college football games and the start of the NFL preseason – as the state heads into its first full football season with legal sports betting.

Even with only a few games happening in August, it was the second-highest total for mobile football bets since the state began allowing mobile betting in January. Only February had a higher total for football with more than $9.8 million (in January, the apps technically lost money on football wagers because state law allows them to deduct money spent on promotions from the net proceeds).

The brick-and-mortar sportsbooks also saw an increase in football bets during August, recording around $893,400 in proceeds from football bets – the most of any individual sport for the month.

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Since flipping the switch allowing mobile sports betting at the end of January, the apps have brought in nearly $100 million in net proceeds, with the state collecting more than $15.5 million in tax revenue. Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks have added another $26.7 million for casinos and $2.7 million in tax revenue since November 2021.

The total amount brought in by mobile apps and the brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in August totaled around $9.5 million, which was actually a decline of 54.6% from $20.8 million in July. Ronnie Johns, the head of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, said during the board’s meeting Sept. 15 that July had five weekends to August’s four, which likely contributed to the decline.

“The fact that we are now entering into our first full season…no doubt is going to drive some numbers and some revenue for us,” Johns said during the meeting as the board reviewed the August revenue reports. “We’re just anxious to see what a full season does for us.”

Johns expressed similar optimism over the summer, when he told The Daily Advertiser that the state was on track to meet or exceed the expectations set by the Legislative Fiscal Office, which estimated the state would collect around $30 million in taxes during the first year of sports betting.

So far, the state has collected around $18.3 million across both mobile and retail betting. If the state follows trends established by the other states that have legalized sports betting, it should have no trouble meeting the $30 million mark.

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Mississippi, one of the only other deep South states to have legal sports betting, got around 67.5% of its total sports betting tax revenue in 2021 during months with football (January, February and September through December). Mississippi only has retail sports betting and no online wagering.

The same is largely true for other legal betting states, like Nevada, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Those five states get between 54% and 81% of their sports betting tax revenue during football season.

Outside of football season, Louisiana made around $14.3 million in tax revenue since November 2021 from both retail sportsbooks and mobile apps. If football season ends up accounting for around 60% of the total tax revenue from sports betting, the state could see around $35.7 million in tax revenue by the end of 2022.

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana expecting boost in sports betting revenue with football underway