Investing.com - Week 1 of the NFL season produced modestly unfavorable results for sports betting operators, with bettors winning the majority of moneyline bets in 12 of 16 games, according to Canaccord. Detroit drew 88% of moneyline handle before beating New Orleans by a point in overtime, while Pittsburgh won and covered with 89% of moneyline handle and 78% of spread handle backing the Steelers. Caesars reported that 8 of its 10 most popular touchdown scorers cashed, while BetMGM called out favorable outcomes for regular and same-game parlay bettors.

Operators saw some relief against the spread, with the side receiving less than 50% of spread handle covering in 10 of 15 decisions, excluding one push. Arizona's upset of the Chargers and the Giants' Sunday-night win over Dallas provided further relief, with both games staying under while more than 90% of totals handle backed the over in each. Favorable college football results on Saturday likely offset some of the pressure on sportsbooks from the NFL slate.

Kalshi's notional volume increased 10% week-over-week to $13.1 billion in the week ended September 13, including $2.46 billion on Sunday, a record daily total, while taker volume was roughly flat at $3.0 billion. Combos rose to 57.4% of notional from 52.3% a week earlier and accounted for all of the sequential notional increase. DraftKings' DKeX exchange weekly notional volume increased 125% week-over-week to $441 million and its share of reported notional reached 4.5% on Sunday.

Across five states that have reported August sports betting results, handle declined 10% year-over-year to $2.32 billion and gross gaming revenue fell 8% to $224 million, reversing June and July growth driven by the World Cup. The current handle decline is concentrated in New York, which accounts for more than the entire decrease, while the other four states combined grew 12%. Fanatics' decline alone exceeds New York's overall reduction in handle, while DraftKings and FanDuel each grew approximately 6% across markets with operator disclosures.