What will Iowa’s legal sports betting market look like with no state representation in any popular sports? It may be a long summer as the NBA season is nearing its end.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission announced that the Hawkeye State's betting sites accepted $172.5 million worth of wagers in April, a 25.8% monthly decrease, after March’s $232.6 million.
From the $172.5 million, sportsbooks paid out $158.4 million back to the bettors, leaving them with $14.1 million in net receipts.
The hold percentage fell slightly from 8.5% to 8.2% but still higher than February’s 6.1%. Net receipts, not surprisingly, fell to $14.1 million, a 28.8% fall. Iowa’s tax revenue did not avoid across-the-board drop, and state coffers saw just $958,605 after March’s $1.29 million.
Online bets remained the go-to method for bettors. Less than 9% of bets in Iowa were placed in-person.
Reduced handle constricting the smaller operators
A 25% contraction in the market was bad news for the 18 Iowa sports betting operators. While just one operator reported a loss in March, six were in the red in April. Not only that, but the state’s Top 2 operators increased their market dominance.
DraftKings was the state’s most popular operator with a $55.8 million handle and $5.6 million in revenue. FanDuel was second with $41.9 million in bets and $5 million in revenue. Combined, they made up 75% of the state’s profits, up from 59% in March.
Revenue-wise Caesars came in third with $1.5 million in profit and BetMGM followed with $1.3 million. After that PointsBet ($341,938) and BetRivers ($231,699) were the only sportsbooks with six-figure profit.
