The Grand Canyon State has seen a rapid increase in betting activity since legalizing it some months ago. Residents in Arizona have taken kindly to regulated sportsbook operators and have since placed millions in wagers.
In actual fact, Arizonans placed so many wagers in the first month of opening that the total amount wagered is a national record. The total spent in the first month of legal sports betting beat the previous best set in Nevada. It’s clear that the transition to licensed sportsbooks – physical and online – has been as smooth as lawmakers and operators could have hoped for. Sports betting has been legal for four months now and a continued rise in revenue is expected in the first half of 2022.
Arizona defies all expectations
Legal sports betting had been in the works for several years. Lawmakers in Arizona worked on various drafts before pushing through a final approved bill. In September 2021, Arizona launched sports betting throughout the state. Phoenix has been a major hub for gambling and sports betting ever since. However, there are pockets of activity in various cities while residents are also free to engage in full-scale online betting with top-tier platforms on hand. The ensuing activity has been a sight to behold not to mention the fact that revenue within the first two months clambered to new heights.
The first month of legal betting saw more than $290 million being spent on bets. A report released by the Arizona Department of Gaming at year’s end detailed total wagers in October, too. The second month of legal sports betting jumped significantly with $486.1 million in bets being placed. An increase of almost $200 million from September to October is indicative of a healthy market that has managed to gain serious traction. It ranked seventh overall in betting markets across the country.
Although many anticipated that Arizona’s sports betting debut would be big there was still an element of surprise when total figures were released. A lot of the success must be attributed to the licensed sportsbooks who have ensured a fair, yet invigorating, environment in which to place sports bets across the board. Daily fantasy sports has received widespread attention as hundreds, if not thousands, of users have placed wagers on sites such as DraftKings. Caesars, BetMGM, and FanDuel are also leading the market in Arizona.
Yes, the amount of sports wagers have been rather high in Arizona but this hasn’t translated into sizeable state revenue. Taxes on revenue generated by sportsbooks has in actual fact been rather meagre. Operators’ revenue was more than $30million and each entity was able to deduct millions in promotional credit. Thus, the state realized very little in tax revenue. It’ll be interesting to see how much tax revenue is collected within the first year of legal sports betting. Officials will be keen to boost state coffers and taxing gambling operations is a sure-fire way to do so. At least this has proven to be true in other states in the US.
Revenues of top sports betting markets
Naturally, New Jersey and Nevada sit atop the list of highest revenue for sports betting. Bettors in New Jersey wagered in excess of $1.3 billion in the month of October while Nevada wasn’t far behind with $1.1 billion. Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan rounded out the top five states. Colorado narrowly pipped Arizona by generating more than $497 million for the month of October.
Complete figures for November and December will be released later on in the month. Our latest news will be sure to keep track of how Arizona is performing and whether the sports betting market is still increasing at such a rapid rate. There’s no reason to think otherwise.
