The Arizona Department of Gaming released figures on Friday that showed the state’s retail and online sportsbooks accepted $461.45 million in wagers during May, 10% lower than April’s handle of $512.8 million.
Last Updated:
Jul 22, 2022 3:10 PM ET
Read Time: 2 min
Monthly tax revenue from Arizona sports betting hit a record high in May, even as overall wagering decreased amid a slowing schedule of events.
The Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) released figures on Friday that showed the state’s retail and online sportsbooks accepted $461.45 million in wagers during May, 10% lower than April’s handle of $512.8 million. Almost 99% of that betting was done online.
After paying out winning wagers and accounting for the federal excise tax, revenue from sports betting for the month was nearly $55.2 million for operators, or a hold of about 12%. In April revenue had been $29.2 million and the win rate was 5.7%.
Operators deducted about $13.8 million in free bets and other promotions that were given to bettors, which led to $41.4 million in adjusted revenue for May. With Arizona’s 8% tax rate on retail sports betting revenue, and 10% levy on mobile wagering receipts, the tax owed to the state for the month was $4.1 million, a new record.
“The newly emerging event wagering industry in Arizona continues to impress, with over $460 million wagered and over $4 million in privilege fees in the month of May,” said Ted Vogt, director of the ADG, in a press release. “Since the start of legal event wagering, we have seen approximately $30 million in privilege and licensing fees contributed to the state.”
The storm before the calm
Legal sports betting launched in Arizona in September 2021, just in time for the start of the National Football League’s regular season. In May, there were 18 online sportsbooks taking wagers in the southwestern state. Numbers for the month included the contribution of three brick-and-mortar sportsbooks as well.
Among operators, FanDuel reported the most action for May, with an online handle of $148.7 million. Second in Arizona for the month was DraftKings, which reported $141.1 million in mobile wagering, followed by BetMGM, with $84.2 million in online betting.
Other notable bookmakers included Caesars, which registered $47.5 million in handle, and Barstool Sportsbook, with $14.5 million.
Another record-setting month in June may be harder to come by, though, as Arizona is a bit behind its peers in reporting sports-betting numbers. Other jurisdictions with legal sports betting have already announced June figures, which suggest Arizona could be in for a steeper decrease in wagering when it reveals its numbers for the month.