This article explains whether players win more on FanDuel or DraftKings using public state regulator reports from 2024 and 2025. It focuses on how to read handle and revenue figures, how to compute operator hold, and how to use that information in practical decision-making. The goal is to give a clear, evidence-based framework so you can compare platforms in your legal state using official sources rather than anecdotes. This is a guide for bettors and DFS players who want repeatable steps to choose where to place action.

Operator hold, not brand, is the right public proxy for average bettor losses across a market.

State reports show month-to-month and cross-state variation, so no universal winner emerges between FanDuel and DraftKings.

For DFS, contest rake and structure matter more than platform name in determining payouts.

Why the question "best football gambling sites" is not a simple yes or no

When people ask whether they "win more" on a particular operator, they usually mean either which brand returns more money to the average player or which brand gives individual bettors a better chance to have winning sessions. It helps to separate those ideas. At the market level, regulators publish handle and revenue so we can compute operator hold, an aggregate metric that approximates the average loss rate for bettors on that operator; at the individual level, short-term results depend on luck, skill, and bet selection rather than operator-level averages.

Focus matters: the phrase best football gambling sites can refer to many things, including the sharpness of lines, promotions, contest structures, or the platform experience. In regulatory terms, the most useful public comparison is operator hold, because that combines reported revenue and handle into a single proportion that reflects how much of the total money wagered the operator retained. Several state reports in 2024 and 2025 publish the fields required to calculate hold, enabling direct operator comparisons across markets New York State Gaming Commission weekly reports.

Do people win more on FanDuel or DraftKings?

Regulator reports show operator hold varies by state and month, and neither FanDuel nor DraftKings has a consistent cross-market advantage; compare odds, contest rake, and recent hold in your legal state instead.

Individual bettors should not conflate an operator's aggregate hold with their own expected short-term result. An operator can show a higher hold in one month while many individual bettors still win more than they lose, because the distribution of wins and losses is uneven and influenced by entry decisions, bet sizes, and skill. The public regulator data is most useful for high-level comparisons and trend spotting, not for predicting single-bettor outcomes.

Close up spreadsheet showing columns handle revenue and hold with cursor on hold cell displaying formula clean minimalist Funded Plays style colors and layout best football gambling sites

To summarize, asking which of the best football gambling sites lets players "win more" requires specifying whether you mean aggregate payout rates or personal win probability. The regulator-derived metric operator hold answers the aggregate question; personal outcomes require a different analysis.

How state regulator data lets you compare operator hold for best football gambling sites

Most useful regulator reports include two fields you can use immediately: handle and revenue. Handle is the total amount wagered over a period and revenue is the operator's gross receipts for that period; dividing revenue by handle yields hold, which is the standard public proxy for average bettor loss rate. The Ohio proprietor reports define handle and revenue in their reporting glossary, which clarifies this calculation and why hold is the appropriate aggregate comparison metric between operators Ohio Casino Control Commission proprietor report.

Different states may label fields slightly differently or provide additional breakdowns by bet type and operator, so step one is to find the operator-level table and verify which columns are handle and revenue. In New York weekly reports and other regulator releases you will typically see weekly or monthly handle and revenue figures by operator, which lets you compute hold for each operator for comparable periods New York State Gaming Commission weekly reports.

Calculating hold is straightforward: hold equals revenue divided by handle. If a report gives you revenue and handle, compute hold for each operator and compare the proportions rather than raw revenue numbers, because hold normalizes for scale differences between large and small operators. That simple ratio is the right starting point for comparing aggregate bettor outcomes across the best football gambling sites in a given market.

Keep in mind limits of the measure. Hold is an aggregate, period-level statistic that blurs useful detail: it does not show how hold varies by bet type, sport, or promotional adjustments, and it does not represent any single bettor's variance. Use hold to compare platforms, then drill into bet-type breakdowns and recent trends where possible to understand what drives differences.

What the 2024-2025 state reports show about FanDuel and DraftKings payouts

Across the 2024-2025 regulator releases for multiple states, operator-level hold varies by month and market, and no single operator consistently shows a universal advantage in aggregate bettor outcomes across all markets. That pattern appears repeatedly in state reports, which show month-to-month and state-to-state variation rather than a clear brand-level winner Massachusetts Gaming Commission monthly report. See industry market-share snapshots here.

For example, Massachusetts provides operator-specific monthly reports that list handle and revenue by operator, and those figures demonstrate that payout patterns shift over time; a platform that shows a relatively lower hold in one month may show higher hold the next month, depending on sport, promotions, and the mix of bet types offered Massachusetts Gaming Commission monthly report. See additional industry statistics on operator revenue and usage here.

New York's weekly reports offer a finer cadence and similar operator-level snapshots, allowing observers to see short-term swings and to avoid drawing conclusions from a single period; comparing weekly hold across operators highlights how seasonal lines, major events, and bettor behavior affect aggregate hold over short windows New York State Gaming Commission weekly reports. Recent New York handle snapshots are available here.

Additional state monthly reports provide corroborating snapshots. Illinois and Arizona operator-level monthly releases add more examples of how operator hold can diverge between markets and months, underlining that variability is the rule rather than the exception when comparing FanDuel and DraftKings across different jurisdictions Illinois Gaming Board monthly report.

Check official challenge and operator reports for evidence-based comparisons

Check your state's regulator reports to compare recent operator hold and bet-type breakdowns before deciding which platform to use. Official regulator releases are the most reliable public source for these comparisons.

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Because the public reports show operator-level variability, the practical takeaway for bettors in 2026 is to line-shop and compare prices, promotions, and reported hold for the specific market and timeframe where they place action rather than assuming one brand pays out more overall.

Why daily fantasy outcomes are governed by different mechanics than sportsbook hold

Daily fantasy sports operate with different economics than straight sportsbook betting. DFS operator revenue reflects contest rake and scale rather than point-in-time wagers, and participant outcomes are driven heavily by contest format, entry fee structure, and player skill. Massachusetts DFS operator revenue reports document scale differences between operators and highlight how contest structures, not brand alone, shape payouts to participants Massachusetts Gaming Commission DFS revenue report.

In DFS, the operator collects a fee or rake from entry pools and redistributes the remainder to top finishers. Two platforms with different contest mixes or rake levels can show different revenue profiles even if player outcomes for similarly structured contests are comparable. That means DraftKings and FanDuel can differ in reported revenue because of scale and contest mix rather than because one operator systematically pays entrants better for identical contests.

For players choosing contests, focus on contest rake, prize structure, and field composition. These factors determine expected returns more than the brand name. Where operator revenue reports are available, they help you see scale and market share differences that explain why revenue figures diverge between brands Massachusetts Gaming Commission DFS revenue report.

A practical framework to decide where to place bets or enter contests

Use a short checklist that combines live line shopping with regulator evidence and sound bankroll practices. Start by comparing the odds or contest entry pricing across the operators you can legally use. Often small differences in price or vig change expected value more than perceived brand differences.

Second, consult recent regulator release figures for your state to see operator hold and any available bet-type breakdowns. Regulator reports are public and let you compare hold across operators for the same period, which is a better evidence base than promotional copy or anecdote Ohio Casino Control Commission proprietor report. For workflow and checklist examples, see the Funded Plays blog blog.

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Third, apply sound bankroll sizing and sample-size thinking. Short-term variance is large in both sportsbook and DFS contexts; treat single-month differences in operator hold cautiously and evaluate performance over many wagers or contest entries. Use conservative bet sizing and track outcomes to build a personal sample that is large enough to interpret. For practical notes on bankroll sizing and tracking, see our main site Funded Plays.

Step-by-step checklist you can follow right away: line shop before each bet, record the odds and operator you used, check the latest regulator hold figures for your state periodically, and avoid over-interpreting month-to-month swings. The Funded Plays guide on evaluations explains how to record and review outcomes here.

Common mistakes and pitfalls when comparing platforms

A common error is reading hold from too small a sample and concluding one operator is strictly better. Short-term month-to-month swings happen, and operator hold calculated from a single short period can be misleading if the underlying handle is concentrated on a few large events or if promotional adjustments are heavy that month Massachusetts Gaming Commission monthly report.

Minimalist 2D vector of two mobile apps side by side showing visual odds comparison bars and a small contest rake indicator on a Funded Plays style dark background best football gambling sites

Another mistake is ignoring bet-type and season effects. Parlays, props, and futures typically carry different margin profiles, so an operator's overall hold can move as the distribution of bet types changes during a season or around major events. Compare bet-type breakdowns where regulators provide them rather than relying on overall hold alone.

Finally, do not conflate marketing language with better payouts. Promotional offers, risk-free bets, and loyalty rewards change short-term economics, but they do not replace systematic comparisons of pricing and hold. Use regulator data and direct line-shopping to ground decisions, and treat marketing claims as incentives rather than proof of better aggregate payout rates New York State Gaming Commission weekly reports.

Practical examples and scenarios: using hold to estimate expected losses

Hold translates into an expected percentage of handle retained by the operator over many wagers. Conceptually, if you know an operator's hold for a period, you can treat that hold as the long-run average proportion of total wagers the operator kept in that period, and use it to form a conservative expectation model for aggregate losses over many similar wagers. Ohio's proprietor documentation explains why hold is the proper aggregate proxy for expected bettor loss rates rather than individual win probability Ohio Casino Control Commission proprietor report.

Use a spreadsheet to apply hold to a sample bankroll, keeping the math simple and transparent. For planning, treat hold as a decimal fraction and multiply it by the portion of your bankroll you expect to commit to wagers over a time window. This gives a conservative expected aggregate loss figure that can inform bet sizing and risk limits without pretending to predict any single bet outcome.

Apply an operator hold to a sample bankroll to estimate expected aggregate loss

Use hold as decimal fraction

Remember that these are aggregate expectations. Individual bettors will see wide variance around the mean, and short-run results can differ substantially from the expected loss calculated from hold. Use the conservative expectation model for bankroll planning and risk controls, not for forecasting single-bet wins.

How to keep monitoring operator payouts and where to look next

Regulator report cadence varies by state, with some jurisdictions publishing weekly operator tables and others publishing monthly summaries. Subscribe to your state gaming regulator's release list or check their sports wagering pages periodically to receive the latest handle and revenue tables. New York's weekly cadence and Massachusetts' monthly reports are two examples of different rhythms you might follow New York State Gaming Commission weekly reports.

Track sport-specific and bet-type hold over time, because meaningful differences often appear in segmented views rather than overall hold. Follow the regulator sources for your state and record historical hold by operator, sport, and bet type to detect persistent patterns that matter for where you place action Illinois Gaming Board monthly report.

Finally, the practical conclusion is simple: compare lines, contest rake, and recent regulator hold in your legal state before deciding which platform to use. Public regulator data is the best available evidence for aggregate payout comparisons, and combining that data with line shopping and contest analysis is the most defensible approach to choosing among the best football gambling sites Arizona Department of Gaming monthly report.

How does regulator 'hold' relate to whether I will win on a platform?

Hold is an aggregate metric, revenue divided by handle, that approximates average bettor loss rate over many wagers. It does not predict single-bettor short-term results.

Should I choose a platform based on reported operator hold alone?

No. Use hold for high-level comparison, but also line shop, check bet-type breakdowns, and consider contest rake and promotions before deciding.

Where can I find the latest operator hold figures for my state?

Check your state gaming regulator's sports wagering reports page and subscribe to weekly or monthly releases where available.

Comparing the best football gambling sites requires reading public regulator data and combining it with line shopping and contest analysis. Use hold as a starting point, but always pair it with bet-type detail and sensible bankroll controls. If you follow the checklist in this article and monitor the official reports for your state, you will make more informed choices about where to place bets and enter contests without relying on brand claims alone.