The Arizona Department of Gaming reported that bettors in Arizona wagered $563.2 million on online and mobile sportsbooks in May 2024. That total handle is down from around $650 million in April but is an increase of 26.0% year-over-year.
That yielded gross gaming revenue of $60.6 million. After factoring in nearly $17.2 million in promotions, free bet credits and deductions, adjusted gross revenue for the month was $42.7 million. Last May’s AGR was $33.3 million from $48.0 million GGR, meaning Arizona’s 17 mobile sportsbooks are collectively making 28.4% more money than they were this time last year.
This May’s revenue total yielded nearly $4.3 million in taxes for the state. Arizona’s 10% sports betting tax is one of the lowest rates in the country.
As it has done every month so far this year, FanDuel took the top spot among mobile sportsbooks. The Grand Canyon State market leader made $26.9 million in GGR from $192.7 million in bets. DraftKings was a close second in handle with $188.3 million in bets but a significantly lower hold saw it take $19.3 million in GGR.
BetMGM, Caesars and bet365 finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, for both handle and revenue. BetMGM still languishes far behind FanDuel and BetMGM with $63.6 million in bets taken, while Caesars handled $35.3 million and bet365 took $25.5 million in bets. Aside from the big two, BetMGM and Caesars were the only two operators to make more than $1 million in AGR in May.
While FanDuel and DraftKings have both grown their handle and revenues year-over-year, BetMGM and Caesars are down in both numbers compared to May 2023. Caesars is handling $10 million less in bets than it was a year ago.
At the other end of the scale, Golden Nugget Online Gaming lost $9,000 in May.
A year of change in Arizona
A lot has changed in Arizona’s online sports betting market in recent months.
Looking year-over-year, numerous sportsbooks have left the market, including Churchill Downs, WynnBET and Barstool Sports. In their place have come bet365, Fanatics Sportsbook, and ESPN Bet.
While ESPN Bet is performing better for PENN Entertainment in Arizona than Barstool was this time last year, it’s bet365 that has made the strongest impression. The British sportsbook has taken more than $24 million in bets in each of its first four months of operation in the state since launching in February. Its GGR has been hovering around $1.8 million for three months now but its May AGR of $859,450 was its highest take-home to date in the state.
Fanatics is an even more recent entry. May was just its second month of operation in Arizona and it saw its handle tick up slightly from $15.6 million to $16.7 million, although it is still not making any more as it continues to pay out promotions and sign-up offers.
More changes are coming and will be reflected in later revenue reports. This month, two more sportsbooks have pulled out of Arizona.
Super Group is shutting down Betway‘s sportsbook operations in all nine U.S. markets, while SaharaBets, which had been tethered to the Arizona Coyotes’ betting license, has left the state as the NHL franchise relocates to Utah.
The ADG recently closed a new licensing window. It has welcomed applications for at least one sports betting license reserved for Arizona tribes and at least one reserved for Arizona sports teams. The state can allocate a maximum of 20 sports betting licenses under state regulations. Before the exits of Betway and SaharaBets, it had 17 of those slots filled.