The Arizona Department of Gaming has released its latest report on the state’s sports wagering handle, revealing growth for June 2023. With a sports wagering handle of $393.2 million, Arizona experienced a substantial 23.3% year-over-year increase.
This surge in activity has propelled Arizona to become the ninth state to surpass $11 billion in total wagers since the post-PASPA era began.
While Arizona narrowly missed achieving a 10th consecutive month with a $400 million wagering handle, this slight dip did not overshadow the progress. The state’s performance ranked fifth nationally for handle, marking the first time it secured a spot in the Top 5 since its sports betting launch in September 2021.
Sportsbook operators operating in Arizona reported a gross revenue of $28.3 million, excluding deductions and promotional credits. This translated to a hold of 7.2%, indicating the percentage of total wagers retained by operators.
Interestingly, promotional credits recorded a year-low of $11.4 million. Additionally, the cumulative promotional credit total for the first six months of 2023 stands at $90.9 million, reflecting a 2% decrease compared to the same period in 2022.
From the revenue generated, the state collected taxes on adjusted gross revenue amounting to $16.4 million, leading to tax receipts exceeding $1.6 million. The year-to-date gross revenue exhibits a 32.6% increase compared to the previous year, totaling $263.4 million.
A noteworthy contributor to this growth is the hold percentage of 8.2%, which represents a remarkable 24.8% rise from 2022.
In 2023, the state managed to tax 63.4% of the gross revenue, a significant increase from the 53.3% recorded during the same period in the previous year. This achievement has resulted in a tax revenue of $16.6 million, surpassing last year’s pace by $5.6 million.
Desert Diamond, a mobile sportsbook in Arizona, has exhibited a rollercoaster performance in the first half of 2023.
Despite a 3.3% hold on a $124 million handle for the year, the sportsbook managed to achieve a 10.5% or higher win rate in three separate months, translating to revenue surges exceeding $1 million. However, it faced challenges with a 0.7% or lower hold in the other three months, including a loss of nearly $1.3 million in March.
June marked a positive turning point for Desert Diamond, as it registered a hold of 10.6%, retaining approximately $1.1 million in winnings.
This marked a considerable improvement from May when bettors garnered over $177,000 from a $10.2 million wager. Notably, Desert Diamond was the sole book in Arizona with a handle of at least $1 million in June that achieved a double-digit hold.
Among the national mobile operators, FanDuel claimed top honors in both gross revenue and handle. With $12.4 million in revenue and $146.3 million in handle, FanDuel secured a leading position. However, its 8.5% hold marked the third instance this year of posting a monthly hold below 9% in Arizona.
DraftKings secured a distant second place in both categories. It recorded $7.4 million in revenue from a handle of $111.3 million, resulting in a hold of 6.7%.
BetMGM secured the final podium spots, achieving a win rate of 9% and retaining $5 million from a pool of $55.8 million in accepted wagers. Other operators like Caesars Sports and Barstool Sportsbook also contributed to Arizona’s thriving sports betting landscape.
While WynnBET recently announced its withdrawal from the Arizona mobile marketplace, it experienced a challenging month in June. Posting revenue of less than $14,000 from a $3.6 million accepted bet, WynnBET registered a hold below 0.4%. This marked the sixth instance in the last 13 months where WynnBET recorded a sub-5% hold.
Overall, June 2023 demonstrated the ongoing success of the sports betting industry on a national scale, with total handle exceeding $6.6 billion and gross revenue nearly touching $550 million.
The industry maintained a healthy hold of 8.3%, which, although above the standard 7%, slightly trailed behind February’s 7.9% win rate for the first six months of the year.
Commercial sportsbooks across the nation achieved a 9.4% hold in that 12-month span, resulting in $9.6 billion in gross revenue from $102.8 billion handle.
The year-over-year handle surged by 28%, driven by the entry of major states like Ohio and Massachusetts. Operator gross revenue in the same period increased by a 72.7%, reaching nearly $4.1 billion more than the revenue from July 2021 through June 2022.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2023/08/21/68401-arizona-39s-june-sports-betting-handle-up-23-from-2022
