The desert in the American Southwest is notorious for gambling, with Vegas serving as the de facto gambling capital of the world. But it’s neighboring jurisdiction is gaining ground.
The Arizona Department of Gaming reported a $656.3 million handle from sportsbooks in Arizona during April. Nevada sports betting nabbed $569.3 million in total wagers that same month.
Arizona's sports betting handle has increased year-over-year every month since June 2023. Sports betting in Nevada has actually bagged two consecutive months of year-over-year decline.
Side-by-side, Nevada sports betting is still the bigger market, but the growth of Arizona sports betting cannot be ignored while the Silver State’s handle metrics have some glaring declines in their monthly data.
Arizona sports betting this spring
The Grand Canyon State benefitted from one of the most prolific betting periods on the calendar, NCAA March Madness. The University of Arizona Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16, and State Farm Stadium in Glendale hosted the Final Four.
Arizona sportsbooks accepted a monthly record $759.8 million in bets in March. Both March and April’s handles saw more than $100 million increases from the same month’s figures in 2023.
Despite the lower month-over-month handle, sports betting sites in Arizona actually walked away with more revenue thanks to a 9.64% hold generating $63.3 million.
State coffers enjoyed $4.3 million in privilege fees, bringing the year-to-date total to $15.5 billion.
So far in 2024, Arizona sports bettors have wagered $2.76 billion overall.
Online sports betting in Arizona
The biggest difference between the Nevada sports betting market and its neighboring Arizona – and basically every other state with legal sports betting for that matter – is where the bets are being cast. Nevada’s obviously known for its on-site experience in casino resorts where retail sportsbooks are popular, but Arizona bettors prefer online sports betting sites.
Roughly 99% of all bets cast across the Arizona sports betting landscape in April were made on Arizona online sportsbooks, good for a $649.91 million handle. Retail sportsbooks in Arizona collected $6.4 million.
FanDuel and DraftKings attract the lion’s share of online wagering activity, combining for $440.1 million in handle.
BetMGM was the only other online operator to collect more than $50 million in bets, while Caesars Sportsbook and bet365 are the only others above $30 million to round out the top five online sportsbooks in Arizona.
| Operator | April Handle | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| FanDuel | $230.3 million | $26.4 million |
| DraftKings | $209.8 million | $19.0 million |
| BetMGM | $76.4 million | $8.4 million |
| Caesars | $39.1 million | $3.1 million |
| bet365 | $30.2 million | $1.9 million |
| ESPN BET | $21.6 million | $1.8 million |
| Fanatics | $15.7 million | $1.4 million |
| Hard Rock | $7.8 million | $16,762 |
| Rush Street Interactive | $6.2 million | $242,367 |
Three online sportsbooks in Arizona brought in less than $10 million in monthly handle in April, and five others that didn’t even crack $1 million.
The market could be gaining two more sportsbooks in Arizona in the coming months, so competition for market share will be pretty steep.
