The Arizona Department of Gaming reported sports wagering handle just shy of $691 million for the month of March, setting a new high since launch and closing the books on the biggest national quarterly handle since PASPA was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
Though the state agency does not break down handle by sport category, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament figures to have been a key contributor to handle spiking 40.5% higher compared to the $491.7 million in bets for February. It is the second time in three months this year operators in Arizona accepted more than one-half billion dollars in bets and the sixth consecutive month handle surpassed $450 million.
Gross gaming revenue from sports betting picked up noticeably as well, improving 52.4% from February to $37.2 million. The win rate ticked nearly one-half of a percentage point higher to 5.4%, the second straight month it was below 6% after operators surpassed the 7% industry standard in each of the first five months since launch.
Promotional spend among operators was also heavy once more, with credits and deductions totaling $18.6 million. The state was able to levy taxes on $18.7 million in adjusted revenue, barely more than half the gross total, and collected $1.9 million in revenue from the 8% rate on retail revenue and 10% for mobile.
The report was the last to be filed nationwide for March, which saw more than $9.2 billion wagered across the country. It is the second-highest monthly total recorded post-PASPA, trailing only the $9.8 billion in bets for January. Gross sports wagering revenue for March totaled $603 million, the third-highest total overall behind last November ($723 million) and January ($648 million).
State taxes collected across the country totaled $118.5 million, with New York accounting for nearly half that total with $58.3 million thanks to its 51% tax rate on operator revenue.
DraftKings tops in handle, FanDuel in GGR
Top 10 March national #SportsBetting handle by state (final)
1 New York $1.64B
2 New Jersey $1.12B3 Illinois $971.3M
4 Nevada $862.8M
5 Pennsylvania ~$715M
6 ARIZONA ~$691M <—NEW
7 Colorado $505.6M
8 Michigan ~$478M
9 Indiana $476.8M
10 Virginia $469.5M#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) June 6, 2022
DraftKings became the first mobile operator in Arizona to surpass $1 billion in handle after posting a record $230.2 million for March. That was a 74.9% increase from February’s $131.6 million as it wrested back the top spot for handle from FanDuel.
FanDuel, though, was able to beat out all comers for the most gross revenue among mobile books, with $12.9 million, as it narrowly missed a 7% hold on $184.6 million worth of wagers. BetMGM was the only other operator to reach eight figures in gross revenue with $10.3 million, but its $6.7 million in promotional spend was the most among all operators.
The four biggest mobile operators in the state — DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Caesars — accounted for 93.6% of the $687.7 million wagered online and 91.3% of the overall promotional credits claimed. FanDuel’s $8.5 million paced all operators for adjusted revenue, while Caesars’ lesser spend on promotional credits allowed it to claim second in that category with $4.8 million.
BetMGM remains by far the most aggressive operator when it comes to promotional spend and deductions, totaling $23.3 million in the first quarter of the year and $49.6 million overall since launch. DraftKings is the only other operator with more than $40 million in overall promotional spend, but it has dramatically slowed in the first quarter with just $13.7 million. It made a huge splash upon launch with $12.5 million last September.
Barstool Sportsbook was the only other operator to generate eight-figure handle in March, with its $19.1 million its third-best total in the Copper State. WynnBET came closest among other operators to $10 million, falling less than $130,000 shy.
On the revenue side, TwinSpires — which is getting out of mobile sports wagering — reported its first positive adjusted revenue since launch with $98,537 from nearly $1.1 million worth of bets. BetRivers also made its first tax payment to the state since launch, finishing with $14,236 in adjusted revenue from gross revenue totaling $330,000.
In its first full month of wagering, Betfred posted handle totaling $3.5 million and claimed more than $390,000 in gross revenue thanks to an 11.2% hold.
Wrapping up the national numbers
FINAL March 2022 #SportsBetting numbers. Rankings out of 47 months in parentheses
Handle: $9,258,701,484 (2)
GGR: $603,014,601 (3)
GGR Win Rate: 6.513% (27)
AGR: $506,830,131 (3)
AGR Win Rate: 5.4741% (32)
Promos/Deductions: $96,184,470
Taxes: $118,485,023 (2)#GamblingTwitter— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) June 6, 2022
Arizona’s revenue report for March put the cap on a staggering quarter of sports wagering in the United States. The $27 billion wagered in the first three months of 2022 was more than double the $13 billion wagered in 2021. New York, of course, played a large role in the increase by launching mobile wagering shortly after the new year, but handle still improved 70% year-over-year when New York’s $4.9 billion mobile handle is removed.
It was also a 24.1% increase compared to the $21.8 billion wagered in the final three months of last year, though that increase dips to 1.7% when excluding New York’s mobile handle.
The $1.6 billion in gross revenue was also the most of any quarter in the post-PASPA era, and New York’s mobile presence helped offset a drop of nearly one full percentage point in the hold. The national win rate for the first three months of 2022 was 6.1%, compared to 6.9% for the final quarter of last year.
Adjusted revenue reached a quarterly high of $1.3 billion, nearly one-half billion higher than the first quarter of 2021 and $104 million more than the fourth quarter of last year.
