Record Legal Sports Betting Handle Reported for Arizona in November

The long-awaited November report on sports betting from the Arizona Department of Gaming has been published. As expected, the report showed a surge in sports betting activity at top sportsbooks due to the wide range of NFL and college football, NBA and college basketball, and NHL games available for wagering.

Following a record-breaking October, Arizona’s sports betting continued its upward trend in November with even higher overall betting activity. Joining 15 other American jurisdictions, Arizona became the 16th state to set new handle records during the month. Kentucky is expected to become the 17th state to do so once its report is released.

Arizona sports betting apps and retail providers did not take advantage of the record sports betting handle in November, similar to other legal sports betting jurisdictions. Due to a low sportsbook hold, state providers’ revenues were disappointing.

$713.6 million November handle

In November, Arizona saw a surge in bettors which led to a record-breaking $713.6 million handle for the state’s providers. This marked a 10.1% increase from the previous high of $691 million in October and a 15.7% jump from the nearly $616.9 million handle in November 2022. Bettors in Arizona were clearly making the most of sportsbook promotions.

During the first 11 months of 2023, Arizona sportsbooks collectively took in $5.88 billion in bets, marking a 7.6% rise from the previous year.

The total for December is expected to exceed $120 million, easily pushing state sportsbooks past the $6 billion annual handle.

Underwhelming revenues reported

Arizona sportsbooks generated $42.3 million in gross gaming revenues in November, marking a 25.6% decrease from October’s $56.9 million and a 24.4% drop from November 2022’s $56 million. The numbers were considered decent but not impressive.

The reason for the disappointing revenues for Arizona sportsbooks in November was the 5.9% hold rate, which was the second lowest of the year and ranked sixth worst in the state’s 27 months of legal operation.

Arizona sportsbooks saw a 17.3% increase in gross revenue, totaling $489.7 million during the first 11 months of 2023 compared to the previous year.

In November, $20.5 million in net revenues generated over $2 million in tax contributions for Arizona state and local funds. This brought the year-to-date tax total in Arizona to nearly $30 million, exceeding last year’s pace by $4.8 million.

FanDuel and DraftKings rule but ESPN BET does OK

In November, the competition for the top Arizona sports betting app was a tie between FanDuel and DraftKings, with each company excelling in different key performance indicators.

FanDuel Arizona led in total bets with under $250 million in November. This pushed the year-to-date handle in Arizona over $2 billion. Despite a low hold rate of 5.7%, FanDuel came in second for monthly revenues in the state, reporting $14.2 million.

In November, DraftKings Arizona led in both wagers with $229 million and revenue with $17.3 million from a 7.5% hold. BetMGM Arizona came in third, with revenues nearly halved compared to the previous month. Caesars Underscoreg Arizona was the fourth top-performing sports betting app in Arizona for November.

In November, ESPN BET showed strength in the Arizona market by tripling its October handle to approximately $39 million in wagers. Despite ranking fifth among the 17 operators in Arizona, it only captured a market share of 5.5%, which was slightly lower than expected.