The experts at BetArizona.com have assembled this guide to explain what we mean when we talk about Arizona sports betting revenue and sportsbook handle that the state reports each month.
There is an active market with many online or mobile operators as well as a growing number of retail sports wagering options at brick-and-mortar casinos in the Grand Canyon State.
The handle is the total amount of money bet on sports in the state each month. Sports bettors wager hundreds of millions of dollars monthly often through the use of Arizona sportsbook promos. From the time legal sports betting launched in September 2021 to early 2023, legal, regulated sports bets were placed exclusively with online sportsbooks. Since then, physical casinos have begun taking retail wagers on sports, albeit in much smaller numbers.
The Arizona online gambling revenue on sports refers to the amount that operators have left after they pay out winning bets. From there, bookmakers pay 10% tax to the state on the adjusted gross revenue.
There was no sign of a sophomore slump during the month of February for Arizona sports betting operators, with a 4.6% increase in wagering handle year-over-year and the eighth largest total in state history.
Overall, the 18 sportsbooks that are live in Arizona collected $637,485,879 in total sports betting handle in February, which was down 9.8% from January’s haul of $706,382,861. The state’s sports betting revenue total of $27,959,904 was down 39.4% month-over-month from the $46,174,706 collected in January.
That sizable decline in wagering revenue resulted in a 39.7% slump in sports betting taxes month-over-month in Arizona, from $4,610,005 in January to $2,788,885 in March, corresponding with the decline in wagering totals from January to February.
Nationally, Arizona finished with the seventh-highest sports betting handle, behind No. 6 Pennsylvania, at $661,740,812, and ahead of No. 8 Virginia, which had a total handle of $545,068,429 in February.
In the Grand Canyon State, the top operators when it came to total handle in February were FanDuel Arizona Sportsbook, at $230,286,515, followed by DraftKings Sportsbook at $206,226,397, BetMGM ($73,253,247), Caesars Sportsbook ($43,645,491) and ESPN BET ($26,578,422).
The newest sports betting entrant in Arizona (Bet365) finished with the next highest handle in the company’s first month in the Grand Canyon State, with the global gaming giant collecting $24,483,441.26 in wagers during February.
In 2023, Arizona sportsbooks took in more than $6.57 billion in wagering handle, up 8.9% from the $6.036 billion operators took in during 2022. Each month, the vast majority of bets are taken by Arizona sportsbook apps.
Arizona’s sports betting tax rate is 10% for online sportsbooks and 8% for retail facilities. That’s what operators pay to the state out of the adjusted gross revenue derived from sports wagering once winning bets are paid out.
The Arizona Department of Gaming is a bit of a wild card when it comes to sports betting revenue reporting, with the agency releasing wagering reports on a sporadic basis. For example, the ADG released February 2023 figures for Arizona sportsbooks on May 10, while the agency unveiled the state’s January report on March 27.
Arizona tax revenue from sports betting largely goes towards the state’s general fund, benefiting everything from education to infrastructure projects for residents of the state.
The Arizona Department of Gaming regulates sports betting in the Grand Canyon State.
Mobile sports betting handle refers to the amount of money wagered on mobile or online apps, using phones, laptops or other online devices. Many online operators offer their customers promo codes. In Arizona, sports betting is done either at a retail location (a land-based casino or at a stadium or racetrack) or on one of the 17 licensed mobile sportsbooks in the state (down from 18, after Fubo Sportsbook ceased operations).
Handle is the terms used to refer to the amount of money wagered in a month. If a handle is reported as $350 million, that means that the operators in the state combined to accept that much money from people betting on sports. Revenue refers to what’s left over after winning bets are paid out; Arizona gaming revenue on sports is taxed based on the amount of adjusted gross revenue each month. In 2022, Arizona collected more than $290 million in revenue from sports betting.
Author
The veteran team of Arizona sports betting experts behind BetArizona.com.
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