Arizona Sports Betting Wagers Increase to 564m in January

Arizona was the eighth state in the United States to take more than $500m worth of bets in January, and a record $564m were placed during the month.

According to PlayAZ, which tracks Arizona’s sports betting market, this was a fitting end to a football season that saw a record-breaking start. 

Eric Ramsey, Analyst for the PlayUSA Network which includes PlayAZ, commented: “With an extra week of regular-season games and an expanded NFL playoff played over five weekends in January, the NFL schedule was kind to Arizona sportsbooks.

“Arizona’s quick ramp-up has been a function of great timing, local enthusiasm and an attractive regulatory framework that has appealed to nationally known sportsbook operators.

“Major operators have had nearly four years of practice launching new markets as legalisation has marched across the US, and Arizona has been a beneficiary of that know-how.”

In total, Arizona’s online and retail sportsbook took in $563.7m in wagers for January, which is an increase from the previous high of $499.2m registered in December. Bettors averaged $18.2m daily over the 31 days of January, an increase of $16.1m per-day in December.

Arizona’s sportsbooks were launched in September, taking $291.2m in wagers. Since then, $466 million in wagers has been placed each month. New York is the only state that has seen a faster first $500m than other states, including Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania. 

From this high betting volume, the state has taxed $19.6m in gross event wagering receipts, producing £2m in taxes.

“Sportsbooks will begin to slow down after March Madness, a natural result of the seasonality of sports betting,” said CJ Pierre, Lead Analyst for PlayAZ. “But the state’s sportsbooks took full advantage of the football season. That has the industry on solid footing for the year ahead.”