Sports bettors in Arizona were relieved to have the chance to legally bet online on sports during November of the previous year. In addition, their appreciation has been more pronounced over the aforementioned month compared to any other since online sports wagering started in the said state.
The biggest dollar amount wagered in Arizona ever:
Licensed sportsbooks in Arizona took in more than $713.5m in wagers throughout the aforementioned month, which represent the biggest bet dollar amount of any month in the state. Additionally, the punters were likely pleased with the amount of earnings during the penultimate month of 2023.
In compliance with the information from the November 2023 income report published by the Arizona Gaming Department, the amount of cash that residents of the Arizona invested in sports wagering exceeded the existing single-month record, which is $690.9mln in the 3rd month of 2022, by a notable difference. However, the vast majority of wagers are placed on NFL games among other linked markets.
Relatedly, that sum of cash also marks an improvement of 13.6% compared to the dollars wagered on licensed sportsbooks in Arizona during November two years ago. That amount managed to push the overall sum of dollars bet for the FY24 to $2.6 billion, which represents an increase of 8.7% compared to the first 5 months of the fiscal years 2022-2023.
Although all of the aforementioned information notes that the sportsbooks have had a busy period, most of that activity has been only the transfer of money from 1 bookie to another. The portion of cash kept by sportsbooks and given to Arizona through taxes wasn’t at all record-breaking.
Sportsbooks in Arizona take a blow in income:
For the aforementioned November of the previous year, the blended gross winnings of every of Arizona’s licensed bookmakers (dollars bet minus punter payouts) reached over $42.3mln. Additionally, this marks nearly 5.9% of the dollars bet.
The said total represents a drop of nearly 24.4% from gross income of sportsbooks during November two years ago. This decline caused, beside sportsbooks’ promotional spending throughout the month, that state’s share of that cash of only a little bit over $2 million to decrease by 47.8% annually.
During the first 5 month of the ongoing fiscal year, the gross profit of sportsbooks is $226.3 million. However, that number is a little bit bigger when compared to the total for the same period in fiscal year 2023. But, when looking at the details of that comparison, the $13.3mln in tax income corresponds to a drop of nearly 5.7%.
Relatedly, the large part of the reason why sports wagering tax income has saw a decrease in Arizona are increases in promotional spending. According to the state’s law, it permits sports wagering licensees to subtract that cost from their taxable income.
That could soon increase further since Arizona has started again the process of license application, meaning it has officially opened up 2 extra chances. If some gambling firm takes advantage of this and succeeds in obtaining a license, it could cause a notable, albeit short-lived, increase in promotional spending, according to PlayUSA.
In this regard, in November, that promotional spending assisted in delivering a record sum of wagering dollars. But, in the future, sportsbooks would likely want to keep additional parts of that cash.