Glossary term
Handle
Total stakes accepted over a period — the volume metric of sports betting, before any results.
Handle is turnover: every dollar staked, win or lose. US market reports lead with it because it’s the biggest available number; revenue is handle × hold.
Reading market reports correctly
A state posting $500M monthly handle at 7% hold earns $35M — and handle growth with falling hold can mean promo wars, not prosperity. For affiliates, handle-based metrics (turnover share deals in some sports programs) reward volume-heavy sharp traffic that NGR deals punish; knowing which metric a deal pays on determines which audience is worth building.
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