Arizona’s June Sports Betting Revenues In, FanDuel Crushed It Online and Retail

Article ByDavid Weir

August 17, 2023

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Posted in: Arizona Gambling News, US Sports Betting News

Arizona sports betting has been on a meteoric rise, and June 2023 was no exception.

The state’s bettors wagered an impressive $393.2 million over the month, according to the latest figures from state regulator the Arizona Department of Gaming. The total gross gaming revenue for June amounted to $27.6 million.

This marks a 23.3% increase in handle year-over-year. The achievement means Arizona is now the ninth state to cross the $11 billion threshold in the era of U.S sports betting legalization.

As is usual across the U.S., mobile operators dominated retail sportsbooks, hitting $390.2 million of the total handle.

FanDuel continued to be the most popular operator in Arizona, with its mobile offering alone accounting for 37% of the total state handle. DraftKings was relatively far behind in second place at $111 million in overall wagers.

Related: Our expert guide to sports betting in Arizona

FanDuel Leads the Charge

FanDuel, one of two national market-leading sportsbooks alongside DraftKings, continued its reign in June.

The company accounted for a significant chunk of Arizona’s handle with over $146 million. It also reported $12 million in gross revenue, translating to an 8.2% hold rate.

While other operators like Desert Diamond boasted higher hold percentages, none could rival FanDuel in terms of sheer revenue.

Rival DraftKings was in the second spot with a handle of $111.3 million. However, its revenue stood at $7.1 million, resulting in a hold rate of 6.4%.

BetMGM followed in third place, generating $55.8 million in handle and $4.9 million in revenue.

Other notable mentions include Caesars, with a handle of $40 million, and Barstool Sportsbook, which will soon undergo rebranding to ESPN Bet, with a handle of $11.3 million.

Desert Diamond, in particular, continued its stellar May performance from a largely independent sportsbook’s perspective. The home state-operator recorded $9.9 million in wagers and more than $1 million in gross gaming revenue.

The least-popular online book for the month was Churchill Downs and Twin Spires sportsbook, which posted a $96,369 handle for the month. Interestingly, the Kentucky-based racetrack has not yet revealed its partner for that state’s upcoming regulated sports betting market launch – but speculation is it will be FanDuel, and not Twin Spires.

The least successful operator in Arizona in June was WynnBET, which announced this month it would be withdrawing from the Arizona market. That came just days after launching an upgraded multi-state app.

WynnBET took just $14,000 in revenues from a $3.6 million handle over the month for a very poor 0.4% hold. That meant it paid zero in taxes. Bally Bet, which was offline for the last week of the month as it upgraded its platform, also posted a loss for the month of minus $11 thousand.

Retail Betting Dominance

On the retail book side, FanDuel also dominated. Smaller retail sportsbooks in Arizona fall under the Limited Event Wagering license, usually just sports bars with a betting kiosk or some terminals.

FanDuel’s retail book, at the Footprint Center stadium in downtown Phoenix, comfortably outperformed the collective handle of all 11 such venues in Arizona.

It posted $1.397 million in handle for the month, compared to $580,000 for all the limited license venues.

BetMGM was the least popular of the three national sportsbook retail operations in Arizona. However, in July, it launched the state’s largest sportsbook at Gila Rivers’ newly-opened Santan Mountain Casino. So it will be banking on that revenue improving in next month’s figures.