Legal sports betting in The Copper State is coming out of hibernation thanks to the upcoming football season, although the player's winnings hurt the state’s tax bill.
Arizona’s Department of Gaming reported sportsbooks accepted $358.8 million — an 11% monthly increase — in August. After paying out $327.1 million back to players, the operators kept $30.8 million in winnings before deducting free bets from the net revenue.
The hold percentage hit 8.6%, well short of July’s 10.6%, meaning that despite the spike in wagers the operators (and the state) lost money compared to July.
Of the state’s 17 online betting sites, 13 were profitable in August: They reported a combined profit of $20.7 million. Of the retail operators, 11 of the 13 (including nine of the 10 limited event operators) were profitable and totaled roughly $647,000. From those numbers, the state’s tax bill hit $2.1 million. July in comparison saw $2.6 million in taxes.
DraftKings and FanDuel neck and neck
FanDuel and DraftKings combined for 64% of the entire Arizona sports betting market. DraftKings was the most popular online operator with $115.5 million (vs. $102.3 million in July). FanDuel had almost the same amount of action with $115.1 million in online bets ( also reporting $2.5 million in retail bets).
BetMGM was a distant third with $50.4 million in handle, and Caesars was fourth with $33.6 million. Desert Diamond Sportsbook came in fifth with $15.3 million while Barstool Sportsbook was the last operator to exceed $10 million in bets ($10.9 million).
