Arizona Sees Over Half a Billion in April Handle
April may not have been the highest month for total wagers in Arizona, or in any state for that matter, but bettors still managed to put down over $500 million throughout the month. According to numbers published by the Arizona Department of Gaming, the state’s April handle came to almost $513 million.
Since the launch of Arizona sports betting in September of 2021, the state has seen a monthly record of $691 million, which occurred in March of this year. This means that the handle did see a fall in April, but Arizona is still performing much better in the industry than many other states are.
Most of the money came through online wagering, which accounted for $509.5 million of the total handle, and the rest was from retail sportsbooks. The only two retail operators in the state are Caesars and FanDuel. FanDuel brought in the most retail money, with bettors wagering around $2.67 million.
Read about other states’ April handle.
Bettors were the big winners, according to April handle
According to the numbers posted by the state’s Department of Gaming, most of the money wagered was returned to bettors in winnings. In fact, the total winnings payouts came to $482.4 million, which makes the operators’ holdings come to 5.7%, or $29.2 million in gross revenue.
$479 million of the payouts came from mobile gaming, while the remaining $3.18 million came from retail wagering. Of the $29.2 million in gross revenue, $16.5 million of it is able to be taxed at the 8% retail tax rate, and the 10% online tax rate. This means that Arizona as a state is benefitting pretty greatly off of April’s handle.
Insane Totals for the Arizona Industry as a Whole
Once the April handle is added to Arizona’s total handle since sports betting was legalized in September of 2021, the state comes to over $4 billion in total wagers. Arizona is the 11th state to pass this number, which demonstrates how sports betting as an industry is truly taking off throughout the entire country.
In this year alone, Arizona has seen $2.2 billion in total bets placed throughout the state. The April numbers are the latest to be released, which means the true total for this year so far is probably much, much more. The state has been able to bring in $6.1 million in taxes in just this year so far.
Mobile Wagering is All the Rage
As stated above, mobile wagering brought in the majority of the handle. It’s been a long battle between DraftKings and FanDuel to bring in the higher handle, and neither operator let up this month. Combined, they brought in over $300 million, with barely a $6 million difference between the two.
Thanks to FanDuel’s April handle, both of the operators have now surpassed $1 billion in total mobile handle in Arizona alone. The state is only expecting to see higher numbers as the year progresses, with the NFL and NBA seasons starting at the end of the year.
