In a surprise twist, Arizona sports betting tops Nevada in the numbers released for this past April as the Grand Canyon State collected a $656.3 million handle compared to just $569.3 million for Nevada. Overall, Nevada is still the bigger sports betting market than Arizona but recent trends are certainly indicating that things are shifting in both directions, with Arizona betting seeming to be on the rise and Nevada betting taking hits nearly every month on a year-over-year basis.
In fact, Arizona’s sports betting handle has gone up year-over-year each month since June 2023 showcasing just how much rapid growth there has been in the state over the past year or so. Nevada has actually decreased in year-over-year handle and revenue in back-to-back months, as DraftKings earnings haven’t been enough to cover across-the-board declines.
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Overall, it’s not like the Nevada sports betting market has been doing poorly by any means. Rather, it’s the fact that Arizona has really taken off as a hub for legal online sports betting, evidenced by the consistent growth that has happened in the Grand Canyon State over a prolonged period of time since legalization.
While Arizona will likely never become Nevada and, if California even legalizes online sports betting, Arizona may fade back a bit but, for now, this is a very hot market and it’s that one people are starting to keep an eye on in terms of up-and-coming gambling hubs.
April Was A Perfect Storm
Not to downplay how Arizona sports betting topped Nevada in April, but a lot of fortunate circumstances on the sports calendar contributed to Arizona’s big month. Maybe the biggest factor of them all was the fact that the men’s Final Four took place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the Arizona Cardinals play their home games. Having the Final Four in your home state is certain to drive up bets, particularly from out-of-state fans who want to bet on the teams they traveled far to see.
While April betting handle in Arizona didn’t come close to the record-breaking online gambling totals from March of this year in the state — $759.8 million — Arizona had more than a $100 million year-over-year increase in handle from April 2024 compared to April 2023. And while the month-to-month handle dipped in April compared to March, the profit received by online sportsbooks in the state actually went up to $63.3 million because of a stellar 9.64 percent win rate.
However, because of pretty low tax rates, the state government only received around $4.3 million in tax revenues from all of the state’s betting activity in April. The low rate allows Arizona to be a very desirable place for bettors to be and it will continue to be so if the interest in legal sports betting in the state continues to increase.
Differences Between Arizona and Nevada
To fully understand how Arizona sports betting topped Nevada in April, it’s important to look at what the differences between the two states are in terms of betting tendencies and infrastructure. There are several major dividing factors that can explain why Arizona has done so well lately and why Nevada’s huge grip and control over the American legal sports betting market may be slipping a bit.
Of course, Nevada, while also being a DraftKings state and FanDuel state and hosting other online legal sports betting operators – gets a ton of its betting handle from in-person bettors at its many established casinos – while close to all of the bets made in Arizona are done using online betting platforms.
It’ll be interesting to track how these states do going forward because it could be a sign of whether or not Nevada’s reliance on in-person wagering could hurt the state moving forward as more and more bettors become accustomed to using online sportsbooks.
Also, in Arizona, two new online sports betting operators could be entering the mix soon because state law allows for 20 online operator licenses and there are currently just 17. Competition is usually a good thing and if operators want to go to Arizona, it’s a sign that people in the industry expect the market to grow even more.
However, an over-saturated market could swing in the other direction as bettors become overwhelmed the options at their disposal. It likely wouldn’t hurt the amount of wagers taken in by the state but it could harm some of the existing operators by diluting their market share.
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