The Arizona Department of Gaming is always slow when it comes to announcing sports betting totals, and the October report was just recently announced. It was another huge month for this sports betting market, and it put a nice bow on a huge month for the industry throughout the country.
The total sports betting handle in Arizona for the month of October was $648.2 million, and only one month has ever seen more betting action. This was the 26th full month of sports betting in Arizona, and it shows that sports bettors are still flocking to the sportsbooks.
Not only have the monthly totals continued to rise in Arizona, but this report represented a 5% jump from what was reported in October 2022. Arizona sportsbooks have now seen more than $5 billion wagered in 2023, and that has put the state inside of the top-10 through the first 10 months of the year.
It should come as no surprise that the total sports betting handle was impressive in October as that was the case throughout the entire country. Arizona sports bettors are like others throughout the U.S. as they took advantage of five weekends of NFL football action.
Total sports betting revenue for the month was also an impressive number as that checked in at $56.9 million. That was the second-highest revenue reported in a single month, but it was actually lower than the $60.1 million that was brought in during the month of September.
The state of Arizona is not necessarily concerned with how much betting action is being done, but it’s instead focused on the total amount of tax revenue that has been brought in. Arizona has collected $27.9 million in tax revenue through 10 months in 2023, which puts the state well ahead of the pace set last year.
DraftKings Ahead of FanDuel
As in many states, DraftKings and FanDuel continue to battle it out for the top spot amongst mobile operators. While FanDuel Sportsbook continues to be the online market share leader in this industry, DraftKings is the most popular choice in the state of Arizona.
DraftKings Sportsbook was able to slip past FanDuel Sportsbook in Arizona in October, and it was the first time that it happened since December 2021. The total sports betting handle for DraftKings was $220.6 million, which was only slightly better than what FanDuel brought in.
Things were a little more spread out in terms of total sports betting revenue as DraftKings checked in at $22.5 million, while FanDuel was sitting at $20.2 million. Once again, those two sportsbooks combined to dominate the sports betting action and that continues to show up every single month.
BetMGM continues to be in third place in both handle and revenue in Arizona, but that could soon be changing. Arizona was one of 17 states that saw the ESPN BET mobile app launch in November.
Huge Month For the U.S.
Now that the state of Arizona has finally announced sports betting numbers for October, we can wrap up the numbers for the entire country. The total sports betting handle throughout the United States checked in at a whopping $12.8 billion for the month.
This number shattered the previous record that was set at $11.6 billion in September, and the 2023 numbers are even more staggering. Since many states have already announced November reports, total sports betting handle is up over $100 billion for the year.
