Sports betting continues to sizzle in the desert as Arizona reported that its sportsbooks generated a record-setting $70.9 million in January revenues while falling slightly short of a record-breaking handle.
Upward Trajectory
According to the Arizona Department of Gaming, January 2024 set a sports betting revenue record in the state with a combined $70.9 million. That bested the previous high of $67.7 million by 4.8% set just a month earlier and was a whopping 49.4% higher than January 2023. After deducting promotional write-offs and other authorized costs, the adjusted gross revenue was $46.2 million.
The handle, total wagers accepted regardless of win or loss, was the second-highest in its 29-month sports betting history with $706.4 million, slightly less than the $713.2 million recorded in November 2023. But it was a confluence of events that brought the gross revenues to record-breaking proportions as the hold, or win rate, was 10% and the eighth time it has reached double-digits.
Mobile Dominance
The state reaped its second-highest tax collection figure since the inception of sports betting in the Grand Canyon State, generating north of $4.6 million from the adjusted gross revenues of $46.2 million in January.
As anticipated, the vast majority of the bets were made online, with mobile wagers accounting for 98.8% of all the activity or $698 million of the $706.4 million total with the remaining 1.2% coming through retail or in-person sportsbook locations.
“Retail establishments only make up about 10 percent of actual betting in a state. It’s online that is the bulk of the betting,” said Bill Bradley, a sports betting industry insider. “Now that everything is available on your app, they’re opening the retail sportsbook online to reach a wider audience. Sportbookies just want to get a feel for what people are doing and what the market is like.”
FanDuel Leads the Pack
As we have seen throughout much of the nation, the duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings led the charge in January’s historic sports betting run. Flutter Entertainment’s FanDuel topped the charts with a $249.2 million handle and $31.9 million in gross revenues, the first sportsbook to break the $30 million threshold in Arizona.
Boston-based DraftKings ran a distant second, generating a $229.4 million handle and $23.1 million in gross revenue, while Las Vegas entry BetMGM posted a $91.7 million handle but fell just short of $10 million in revenue production. Another iconic brand, Caesars, tallied $66.5 million in revenue and was the fourth Arizona sportsbook to post seven-figure gross revenues with $3.5 million.
BetRivers and Hard Rock Bet delivered $533,200 and $528,000 in revenues, respectively. However, some sportsbooks struggled despite the impressive overall results. The relative newcomer to the market, ESPN BET, reported a hold of less than 1% totaling $472,000, while SuperBook reported its second consecutive monthly loss in the market.
As for retail sportsbooks, DraftKings and its Crown Gaming arm led the in-person books with a $3.3 million handle generating $144,519 in revenue while FanDuel was next in line with $1.8 million in total wagers, which garnered $62,810. BetMGM came next with a handle of $979,342 generating $23,332 in revenue for January.
