According to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, retail sportsbooks in the Hawkeye State took a collective loss and most believe it had plenty to do with the public crushing the books with the Kansas City Chiefs on Super Bowl Sunday.
Stupor Bowl Sunday
Although the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission does not identify precise numbers on Super Bowl Sunday, the pattern is painfully evident. Each year that the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl, including this one, Iowa bettors ride their coattails, and the public gets paid handsomely. So much so, that it not only ruins the retail sportsbooks’ day but their entire month.
This year the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl 58 and in-person sportsbooks in Iowa combined for a net loss of over $215,000 in February 2024. They posted similar numbers in other years in which Kansas City was victorious in the big game. In the Chiefs’ first Super Bowl victory during the Patrick Mahomes era, Iowa’s retail books lost over $614,000 in February 2020 while losing over $597,000 in February 2023 when the Chiefs defeated the Eagles.
The obvious conclusion is that there are plenty of Kansas City Chiefs fans in Iowa and it cost 13 of the 19 brick-and-mortar sportsbooks because of it. Nevertheless, six books did make money but it was another collective loss for the retail market in February when Mahomes and the Chiefs took home the hardware.
Mobile Market Robust
Despite the dismal revenue shown by the land-based sportsbooks, the mobile market showed revenues of $13.6 million in February, a 14.6% increase from February of last year. Although the revenue was significantly lower than January’s $22.1 million, that is to be expected as the dearth of sports betting options in February, except of course for one Super Sunday, pulls the sports betting market down throughout the domestic market.
As year-over-year revenue rose, so too did the betting handle with $220.6 million wagered over the course of the month. That was a 13.8% increase over the $193.9 million Iowans bet in February 2023.
Tax Revenue Surge
As we have seen throughout the nation, mobile sports betting numbers routinely tower above retail, and nothing about that scenario changed in Iowa in February, as $203.8 million of the $220.6 million total handle, or 92.4%, came via the online or mobile apps.
The state’s tax coffers swelled by $936,744 in February, courtesy of the sportsbooks’ revenues. And on another optimistic note, Iowa has generated over $2.4 million in tax money off the sportsbooks since the beginning of the year, which is a considerable increase over the $559,000 in the first two months of 2023.
Lastly, it is not surprising that the duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings ruled the Iowa sports betting market in February, as they do in most if not all, other months. FanDuel, in partnership with Diamond Jo Dubuque, took top honors in Iowa’s revenue race with $4.6 million, while DraftKings, whose in-state partner is the Wild Rose Casino & Hotel Jefferson, came next with $2.2 million in revenue.
