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Three Western States are in the Top 10 for Legal Sports Betting

by Dave Schwab - 7/6/2023

Arizona Diamondbacks baseball

Arizona has surpassed $10 billion in total sports betting volume in the quickest time of US states that have legalized sportsbooks. The Arizona Department of Gaming reported $535.7 million in sports bets in April of this year.

Colorado reported $35.15 million in sports betting revenue this past April. This western state placed seventh in the legal US market with total sports betting handle through May ($12.1 billion).

Home of legal sports betting since 1949, Nevada has $527 million in total sports betting in May with in-state revenue of $30.1 million. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported the state’s total sports betting handle is $33.02 billion through May of 2023.

These three western states are all in the Top 10 with total sports betting volume through May of this year. They all have a handle over $10 billion with retail and online sportsbooks in the state. Arizona, Colorado and Nevada are some of the biggest US sports betting markets across the country with sportsbooks including FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and Caesars.

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Arizona

Launched for 20 months, Arizona sportsbooks became the fastest operators to past $10 billion in total sports betting handle in the legal US market. The state is No. 9 on the list with $10.16 billion through April of this year. The Grand Canyon State eclipsed Illinois, which reached the same milestone in February of 2022 after 22 months of going live with sports betting.

Arizona sportsbook operators reported $49.2 million in gross revenue for April and the hold was 9.2%. Gross revenue was 68.1% higher from April 2022 and this month’s hold was almost 3.5% higher than the previous month.

FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM had most of the revenue in April. All three sportsbooks had holds of 9.3% or better. FanDuel was the most popular operator in Arizona for the month of April. The sportsbook had a total volume of $212.9 million and $21 million in gross revenue.

DraftKings had a handle of $147.8 million and $13.9 million in gross revenue in April and BetMGM took in $7.7 million in revenue while recording $72.4 million of total sports bets. Arizona’s local sportsbook, Desert Diamond made a strong showing, rounding out the top five operators in the state.

Colorado

In May of 2020, the first sportsbook launched in Colorado including BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings and FanDuel. In May of this year, Colorado had $12.1 billion in sports betting volume at No. 7 on the list. The state has 24 online sportsbook operators with websites and mobile betting apps. There are 12 retailer sportsbooks scattered in Colorado with the majority in the Denver area.

In April of 2023, the state recorded online sports betting revenue at $34.91 million and retail revenue at $225,884. The online hold was 8.41% and the retail hold was 6.57% in Colorado. Basketball had 32.7% of sportsbooks’ revenue and baseball had 21.2% of revenue as the top two sports bet in the state.

FanDuel is No. 1 in Colorado as far as in-state sportsbooks with Caesars Sportsbook second and BetRivers third. The legal betting age is 21 and the tax rate on revenue is 10% for both online and retail sportsbooks.

Nevada

The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported a sports betting handle of over $525 million in May 2023 to move the total volume to second ($33.02 billion) in the legal US market. The hold rate for Nevada sportsbooks was 5.7% in May of this year verse a 4.8% hold in last May.

The average hold in Nevada is lower than New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These three Northeast sportsbooks had double-digits holds in May. Nevada’s retail sportsbooks’ hold was 7.4% and the online sportsbooks’ hold was 4.9%.

Nevada’s most popular sports in May remain baseball and basketball despite NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup in ice hockey. BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook are the most popular sports betting operators both retail and online settings.

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