When compared to May, June’s numbers are not ideal... but from a macro lens, the Grand Canyon State’s legal sports betting market is healthy and growing.
With the previous month's handle totaling $451 million, June's handle for Arizona sports betting accrued $393 million, marking a 12.8% decline. And from those bets, the sportsbooks finished with a hold of just 7%.
A lower hold — combined with fewer bets — is a tough scenario for the statewide tax bill. After $11.3 million in promotional deductions, Arizona kept just $1.6 million, a huge miss compared to May’s $3.3 million.
FanDuel and DraftKings were again well ahead of the state’s numerous operators. They were the only sportsbooks to see more than $100 million in bets, although both saw decent declines in handle.
BetMGM came in third with for total handle with $55.7 million in June, seeing a 16% decline from a month prior. Caesars Sportsbook was next with $39.8 million (12.5% lower), and Barstool Sportsbook ended the month in fifth with $11.2 million (6.6% lower).
FanDuel held the largest retail handle at $1.4 million, but BetMGM reported $505,000 and was the only major retail location that saw a profit.
Arizona is still growing in 2023
Despite the drop in handle, when comparing June 2023 with June 2022, Arizona is showing that they are still an important state for bettors.
When it comes to handle, June’s $393 million in wagers was 23% higher than last year’s $318.8 million. On the tax side, June's haul in 2023 was more than double that of June 2022.
Growing competition
Arizona is one of the more competitive legal betting states, but that isn’t stopping more operators from taking a chance. Bet365 is the latest sportsbook to enter the area as it was awarded an operating license earlier this week.
Bet365 will need to separate itself from the 17 other online betting sites in the state. The good news is that just three operators paid more to players than they took in (not counting promo deductions), so there are enough bets to go around.
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