What is Handle?
Handle is the total amount of money wagered over a period, used especially in US sports betting reporting; in Europe the same figure is usually called turnover or stakes.
If customers place £10 million in bets in a month, the handle is £10 million, regardless of how much they win back. In slot reporting, the equivalent is often called coin-in.
Handle measures activity, not revenue. The operator's revenue is the share of handle it keeps, the hold, which typically runs in single figures or low double figures for sportsbooks.
US state regulators publish monthly handle and revenue figures for legal sports betting, which makes handle a common headline number in American industry coverage. Handle is useful for tracking market growth, especially in new markets. However, growing handle does not always mean growing revenue, because hold can fall if results go against the operator or if promotional spending rises. Free bets are often excluded from reported handle or treated separately, depending on the state.
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