EARLY LEGAL SPORTS BETTING RESULTS IN ARIZONA BREAK MULTIPLE VOLUME RECORDS

Dave Schwab Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

The Arizona Department of Gaming took its time in releasing sports betting figures for the first two months of operation. However, given the impressive results it was well worth the wait.

Going live with legal sports betting this past September, Arizona has already established itself as a major market in the US. The total sports betting handle for September and October combined was $777 million.

The state’s industry at the time of going live consisted of nine mobile sportsbook operators and two retail sportsbook facilities. September’s handle reached $291.2 million in less than a full month of business. That set a record among new states going live in 2021.

The sports betting handle exploded to $486 million in October. This set a new US record for the highest sports betting volume in a state’s first full month. That figure was also the seventh-highest monthly sports handle that month among states with legal sports betting.

Arizona’s impressive October results were instrumental in setting a national record that same month. October’s total legal sports betting handle in the US reached $7.5 billion.

The state’s initial results were touted by VSiNLive vice president of digital content Ben Fawkes, who simply stated that Arizona is “going to be a huge market".

Arizona was one of the more anticipated launches of legal sports betting in 2021. Embracing both retail and mobile sports betting, Arizona created a great deal of flexibility in its laws governing the industry.

Professional sports teams and sports venues were able to partner with US-based operators such as FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM. These partnerships were extended to in-state PGA Tour events such as the annual Phoenix Open and NASCAR races at Phoenix Raceway.

The four biggest professional sports entities in the state include the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, NBA’s Phoenix Suns, MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks and the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

Arizona has quickly become a leading market for mobile sports betting. In the absence of an established retail sports betting segment, 99% of the wagers placed were through mobile sportsbook apps.

FanDuel and Caesars operate the two retail books in the state. The two-month retail betting handle brought in $9.8 million in wagers. The other sportsbook operators in the state include DraftKings, BetMGM, WynnBET, Unibet, Barstool Sportsbook, and TwinSpires.

Sports betting became legal in Arizona in April of 2021. Governor Doug Ducey signed HB 2772 into law. This was one of the few states that completed the regulatory process in time to reach the September target for launch.

This launch was timed to coincide with the start of the 2021 football season. Given the early results, Arizona is on pace to become the fastest state to reach the $1 billion mark in total sports betting volume.

Written by Dave Schwab, our US Sports Betting Industry Expert. You can learn more about our author's expertise here.

Dave Schwab

Dave Schwab has been covering the sports betting industry for the past 12 years as the main focus of his specialty marketing company for online content. This endeavor followed a previous career in the field of sales and marketing in the wholesaling sector.Most of his weekly pieces focus on the rapidly expanding legal US sports betting industry. However, he still does extensive work covering betting angles that can provide a competitive edge to avid players. Dave believes that it is always a challenge to take past results and current form to try and correctly determine a future result. Sports brings out the unpredictability in what should be a fairly predictable outcome based on the stats, facts and recent trends in a particular matchup. More from Dave Schwab