Bonus Index forecasts New York, Maryland and North Carolina will oust Arizona, Indiana and Colorado from top 10 highest performing states – key drivers are larger populations, more competitive markets and bonuses

 The combined effect of large populations, liberal licensing and resulting high bonuses of newly regulating states including New York, Maryland and North Carolina, will see them break into the top 10 highest performing US markets in 2022, the latest BonusFinder.com Bonus Index is predicting.

The success of these new states, including New York – that will become the number one state for US sports betting despite one of the country’s highest tax rates – will mean established US markets including Arizona, Indiana and Colorado will lose their grip on the top 10 despite several setting revenue records at the end of 2021.

Bonusfinder.com predicts average welcome offers in New York of $1,500 with a low of $550 and a high of $5,000. See chart below.

The ‘old’ guard will buck this trend, however, with New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan, three of the first states to regulate both online sports betting and iGaming, predicted to hold onto their top five places in the Bonus Index in 2022.

The Index found that their large player volumes, openness to multiple licences, high bonuses and permitting both online betting and casino games means they are predicted to continue rapid year-on-year growth.

The biggest story of 2022, however, will be further north with betting and gaming brands flocking to newly regulating Ontario, Canada with BonusFinder.com predicting the province will instantly become the most attractive iGaming market in North America for both players and brands, surpassing all its US online counterparts when it goes live in Q1 2022.

New Jersey has recently revealed a record monthly turnover of $1.3 billion in bets taken in October, however Ontario is expected to outstrip this in its first month with a population double the size of the East coast state.

Once regulated Ontario will become North America’s most important online casino and sports betting market. The Bonus Index predicts that a combination of its 15 million population, with a strong volume of sportsbook and casino players, and an estimated 70+ brands looking to acquire a licence when the market goes live means that brands will be entering a highly competitive market and battling for players by offering the continent’s most appealing casino bonus of $866 and an estimated sportsbook bonus of $395.

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The Bonusfinder.com Bonus Index measures a wide variety of factors across all current and future regulated sports betting states and provinces across the US and Canada. This includes population, number of licences and licensees, betting volume and average bonus offerings across all licensed brands to calculate an overall Free Bet index score.

Fintan Costello, Managing Director, BonusFinder.com, said: “While the larger established US states will continue to play a crucial role in stateside growth in 2022 our Index shows that newly regulating markets such as New York and Maryland will outmuscle many others due to their large player volume potential and highly competitive markets and bonuses which many simply don’t have right now.

“They will be the benchmark for other emerging and existing states, but nothing will compare to Ontario which is going to explode when regulated early next year. It’s already a booming market pre-regulation but we fully expect it to significantly outperform any US state by some distance and for brands to race to the border to secure a significant piece of the action.”