Golden Nugget Goes Live in Arizona

The Golden Nugget Sportsbook is now live in the state of Arizona, and it has actually been around since the beginning of February. Golden Nugget began its soft launch earlier this month, and the mobile betting apps should be available for download soon.

This will be the first time that the Golden Nugget Sportsbook will be powered by SBTech, which is a part of DraftKings. Golden Nugget Online Gaming was acquired by DraftKings last year, but that deal won’t be official until later on this year.

Golden Nugget is not a new name in the online gaming industry as it is already live in four other states as well. Over time, DraftKings will be integrating all of the Golden Nugget properties to SBTech, but that process is going to take some time.

The Golden Nugget sportsbook has been open in Arizona since the start of February.

Arizona sports betting is still relatively new, but this state has seen massive growth since this industry became legal for the first time. The Golden Nugget online sportsbook is now the 14th operator to go live, and another option could be launched later this month.

Arizona Putting Up Impressive Numbers

There were some lofty projections for legal sports betting in Arizona when this industry became legal, and the state has actually surpassed those expectations. Arizona will have a chance to move up to one of the five biggest sports betting markets in the United States as long as things continue to trend in the right direction.

November 2021 is the last report that is available and the total sports betting handle for that month was $466 million. In the first three months of this industry, Arizona was able to go over the $1.2 billion mark for total sports betting handle.

DraftKings is actually the most popular online sportsbook in the state as it has earned 32 percent of the market share since this became a legal option. FanDuel and BetMGM are two of the other large sports betting options in the state.

Rough Deal For Native American Tribes

Native American tribes in Arizona have the ability to offer sports betting as well, but some lawmakers argue that the current rules are unfair. There is currently a cap in place that limits the number of online sports betting licenses for these tribes at just 10.

Senator Sally Ann Gonzales is working on providing more opportunity for Native American tribes, and she has introduced a bill that would raise the limit on available sports betting licenses. Gonzales proposes bumping that number up to 22 total licenses, which would allow every tribe in the state a chance to apply.

Another big change that could come from this bill is that tribes would be allowed to set up a retail sportsbook as well. Even though most of the wagers come from online sports betting, having the option to accept bets in-person would give them more opportunity.

There were 15 tribes that applied for the 10 licenses, and five of those tribes were forced to pay the fee without receiving a license.