Now that July is over, bettors are getting excited about football season, and Iowa is no different as their legal sports betting handle increased in August.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission announced that the Hawkeye state accepted $141.3 million in bets last month, a 29% jump compared to the $109.6 million handle in July.
The hold percentage fell slightly to 9.5%, meaning the sportsbooks kept $13.5 million of the bets they took in. The state reported $911,669 in tax revenue in August — which was higher than June and July — and just shy of May’s $1 million tax bill.
The brick-and-mortar sportsbooks continue to increase their hold percentage in a significant way. Those operators reported 19% hold, vs. 4.9% in July. The online betting sites, which see the majority of the bets in Iowa, announced a hold of 8.7%.
Iowans betting with DraftKings
Iowa is one of the few states where DraftKings edges out FanDuel. Not only was that the case again in August, but when it comes to overall bets, DraftKings seriously pulled away last month.
DraftKings had a handle of $52.2 million, a roughly 39% monthly jump. Rival FanDuel reported $26.8 million, just a 7% increase. Another reason Iowans may like DraftKings is that they win more often. DraftKings held 7.4% of the bets they saw, while FanDuel reported a hold of 12.6%. As for revenue, DraftKings netted $3.9 million while FanDuel netted $3.4 million.
Caesars Sportsbook was again in third place with a $19.6 million handle and $1.7 million in revenue, with BetMGM next up at $16.3 million in bets and $1.2 million in revenue.
bet365 solidified its spot in the top quarter of sportsbooks after just a few months in operation. Iowa sports betting had 17 live sportsbooks in August and bet365 was again fifth in handle.
