These Olympic games have been a ratings success for NBC. However, the popularity on screen may not be translating into success for the sportsbooks. July hasn’t really seen a boost, although the marquee games like Team USA’s final basketball games or the Alcaraz-Djokovic match were not until August.
The Iowa Gaming and Racing Commission reported a monthly handle of $138.1 million last month, a nearly 6% drop off compared to June.
From those bets, Iowa sportsbooks kept 10% of the action, a slight increase. Meaning that even with the loss in total handle, the operators increased their revenue.
After paying out winning tickets, the books reported $13.8 million in gross revenue, a bump from June’s $12.5 million. The state tax bill followed suit, giving coffers $936,000 this month.
DraftKings still king
It's starting to seem apparent ESPN BET may not be able to make significant inroads in the Iowa sports betting landscape. They've dropped below Fanatics and are well behind the traditional leaders.
On top of that, bet365, which doesn’t have the name ID in the U.S. like ESPN, was able to carve out a strong market share even though they, too, launched relatively recently.
| Operator | May Handle | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| DraftKings | $53 million | $4.8 million |
| FanDuel | $31.6 million | $3.9 million |
| Caesars | $14.8 million | $1.3 million |
| BetMGM | $11.3 million | $1 million |
| bet365 | $6.1 million | $620,000 |
| Fanatics | $4 million | $318,000 |
| ESPN BET | $4 million | $457,000 |
| BetRivers | $2.1 million | $104,000 |
| Circa Sports | $1.5 million | $95,000 |
