Iowa’s monthly sports wagering handle continued its fall in May due to the decreased sports calendar, but figures were up on a year-over-year basis, especially in revenue.
For May, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission reported that the Hawkeye State’s sportsbooks achieved a handle of $147.9m, down 16.6% on April’s $177.4m, but up 28.7% on May 2021’s $114.9m.
From the month’s $147.9m wagering, Iowa’s online sportsbooks contributed $134.3m, while retail sportsbooks recorded $13.6m.
Monthly handle drops are expected for sportsbooks across the US at this time of year, and it isn’t expected to change until the sports calendar picks up again later this summer with the return of college and professional football.
Iowa’s sportsbooks reported a May revenue of $12.6m, a 1.6% improvement on the previous month (April: $12.4m), but a staggering 106.5% uptick YoY (May 2021: $6.1m).
With a 6.75% tax rate on sports betting revenue, the Hawkeye State’s sports betting operators handed $850,597 to the state’s coffers, up on the previous month’s contribution of $838,173, and on May 2021’s tax figure of $414,175. The majority of sports betting tax revenue goes to the state general fund.
So far in 2022, Iowa sportsbooks have achieved a handle of $2.3bn, $133m in GGR, and have contributed $9.1m in state taxes.
Per online operator, DraftKings/Crown Gaming led the way with a handle of $38.5m, but the sportsbook was second in GGR at $3.1m.
FanDuel/Betfair Interactive earned the most revenue during the month with $3.7m, but it only achieved a handle of $31m.
DraftKings and FanDuel were followed by Caesars Sportsbook/American Wagering ($30.1m handle, $2m GGR), BetMGM ($16.4 handle, $1.6m GGR), Barstool Sports ($5m handle, $316,724 GGR), Rush Street Interactive ($3.9m handle, $211,270 GGR), and PointsBet ($3.5m handle, $270,745 GGR).
