March Madness Provides Arizona a Monthly Handle Record

We finally have Arizona's sports betting financials for March 2024, and the results for our best sports betting sites in the state are fit for the record books.

The much-anticipated Arizona Department of Gaming March report is finally out, and it certainly didn’t disappoint: sports betting providers combined for a record monthly handle haul.

Grand Canyon State is one of the last jurisdictions to report its March sports betting activity and saw one of the biggest month-over-month and year-over-year percentage increases in handle. March’s impressive wagering activity took the 31-month lifetime of Arizona sports betting past $16 billion.

Due to a slightly underwhelming hold rate, revenues didn’t exactly reach the record levels of Arizona's March handle. Still, handle, revenue, and tax contribution figures are now far ahead of the totals from the first three months of 2023.

$760 million handle

Arizona sports betting apps and the state’s retail sports betting providers combined to accept $760 million in wagers in March 2024, easily a record monthly total for the state. The old record was $713.6 million, set in November 2023.

March’s total represents the third time in the last five months that Arizona has topped the $700 million monthly plateau, as residents continued to take advantage of numerous Arizona sportsbook promos.

The record handle was a 17.8% year-over-year improvement from $644.8 million wagered in the Grand Canyon State in March 2023 and is an even bigger jump month-over-month from nearly $637.5 million wagered in February.

Through the first quarter of 2024, Arizona’s best sportsbooks have accepted $2.1 billion in wagers. That is a 14% jump in handle from the first three months of 2023.

Revenues don’t match handle record

Despite the huge spike in wagering activity, revenues failed to set a new bar, mostly because of a 7.8% hold rate - the second-lowest win rate in the Grand Canyon State has seen in the last nine months. Only the 5.9% win rate in the previous handle-record month of November was worse in that span.

Reported gross sports betting revenue was $59.3 million in March, which is an improvement month-over-month and year-over-year. That figure is nearly $6 million better than March 2023 and is about a $5 million month-over-month improvement from $54.2 million in February.

Year-to-date, gross sports betting revenue totals for Arizona sportsbooks have spiked a whopping 35.3% to $184.6 million.

After bonuses, promotions, and deductions, Arizona sportsbook adjusted gross revenue for March came in at $38 million. Nearly $3.8 million in taxes were paid toward needy state and local tax coffers. This brings the year-to-date tax contribution total to $11.2 million, which is about $3 million better than through the first three months of last year.

FanDuel tops market

FanDuel was the top-performing Arizona sports betting app in March, beating out rival DraftKings in both the handle and revenue race. FanDuel Arizona made up $265.1 million of the state’s overall $760 million March handle. It reported $24.4 million in revenue from a 9.2% hold and has now eclipsed $200 million in accepted bets in Arizona for six straight months. You can check it out with our FanDuel promo code.

That figure is a provider single-month record for Arizona, smashing its previously held record of $258.1 million in January.

DraftKings Arizona finished second with a $255.3 million March handle in Arizona. DraftKings reported $18.8 million in revenue for the month off of a 7.4% hold. BetMGM Arizona rounded out the top three with $94 million in accepted March bets in Arizona and $7.6 million in revenue off of an 8.1% win rate.

Caesars Sportsbook Arizona was fourth, with $50.7 million in wagers and $3.1 million in revenue for the month. bet365 leapfrogged ESPN BET Arizona for fifth with $29.3 million in accepted wagers.