The Arizona Department of Gaming has reported a large month-over-month decline in AZ sports betting handle and revenue from May to June 2023. Handle for retail, limited event wagering operators and mobile combined was $393.2 million, with revenue before promotional deductions of $27.7 million.

What were the monthly and yearly Arizona comps?

Month-over-month, revenue decreased 13.0% from $451.7 million in May 2023. More drastically, revenue fell from $48.6 million by 43% to $27.7 million before promotional deductions.

June 2023 saw promotional credits and free bet deductions of $11.4 million, down from $14.7 million in May. As a result, privilege fees (i.e. tax paid) to the state decreased from $3.4 million in May to $1.6 million in June.

The hit on handle can be explained through the dearth of premium United States sports offering in June, with a nationwide trend being lower sports betting handle. Most states, however, have not taken as significant a bottom-line hit as Arizona. A 10.8% hold in May was reduced to just 7.0% in June which goes some way to explain the drastic 43% deduction.

How did AZ retail perform?

The state’s three retail sportsbooks took just 0.6% of wagers, with Fan Duel’s sportsbook the only sportsbook to take over $1 million in wagers. Of the three sportsbooks, only BetMGM posted positive revenue, with just $31,060 for the month – comprising just 0.1% of Arizona sports betting revenue.

What was the Arizona online operator breakdown for June?

Mobile handle accounted for $390.3 million of June’s total.The top five sportsbooks with regards to mobile handle for June 2023 were as follows (revenue figures are pre-promotional deduction):

  • FanDuel: $146.3 million handle, $12.0 million revenue, 8.2% hold
  • DraftKings: $111 million handle, $7.1 million revenue, 6.4% hold
  • BetMGM: $55.8 million handle, $4.9 million revenue, 8.8% hold
  • Caesars: $39.9 million handle, $1.4 million revenue, 3.5% hold
  • PENN/Barstool:$11.3 million handle, $0.6 million revenue, 5.3% hold

The recently announced billion-dollar deal between PENN Entertainment and ESPN that will see Barstool Sports shelved for the new ESPN Bet suggests the media juggernaut making a bid to compete with the likes of DraftKings and FanDuel for market share across all markets.

The mobile handle market share for June 2023 goes to highlight the challenge facing the partnership:

  • FanDuel: 37.4% of AZ wagers taken
  • DraftKings: 28.5% of AZ wagers taken
  • BetMGM: 14.3% of AZ wagers taken
  • Caesars: 10.2% of AZ wagers taken
  • PENN: 2.9% of AZ wagers taken

90.4% of wagers are taken by the biggest four brands, with PENN currently holding just 2.9% market share. 17 mobile operators are live in Arizona, with the remaining 6.7% of wagers being split across 12 different sites.