The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) announced on Wednesday the state’s legal sports betting market enjoyed a rare bump in February. State sportsbooks accepted $609 million in wagers, a modest 3% increase vs. January’s $591.2 million.
Compared to last year, this February saw much larger growth. “[Over] $117 million more when compared to February of 2022,” said Jackie Johnson, Director, ADG. “These figures highlight a robust event wagering market during the month, which encompassed wagering from Super Bowl LVII hosted here in Arizona.”
FanDuel once again led the state’s 17 online sports betting sites with $218.9 million in bets from their platform, a 12% monthly gain. DraftKings came in second with $161.5 million, a 5% decrease. FanDuel was also the top retail sportsbook, seeing $1.8 million in wagers, and BetMGM was next at $1.2 million.
That being said Arizonans had a relatively fortunate month. Revenue for the operators dropped to from $46.2 million to $33.5 million.
DraftKings and Betway were the few sportsbooks to see an increase in profit but the majority of operators saw their numbers decline. Arizona sports betting saw its hold percentage fall from 7.8% in January to 5.8%.
Restaurant wagering decline
Arizona’s limited wagering operators (found in several of the state’s bars/restaurants) actually saw their handle fall despite the overall growth in the state and increased traffic to the Grand Canyon State.
The 10 operators accepted $762,505 in wagers in February vs. the $1.04 million in January, but their handle increased from 5% to 9.8%
These operators contributed just $6,673 in taxes while the larger operators paid $1.6 million. Online sportsbooks are taxed at a 10% rate while the retail outlets are just 8%.
