For the first time, Arizona sportsbooks had a higher monthly sports betting handle than Nevada

Last week, Arizona sportsbooks made history after 32 months of legal wagering. The Arizona Department of Gaming reported $656.3 million in a betting handle for April 2024. For the first time, they’ve beaten their neighboring state, Nevada. Arizona came close in March when they collected $760 million in wagers. Despite that success, it was still $25 million less than Nevada had. In April, Arizona’s sports betting handle was a whopping $87.2 million higher than Nevada's. Their overall betting handle was up 22.5% compared to April 2023. Additionally, Arizona became the seventh state to pass an all-time betting handle of $17 billion.

Mobile sportsbooks played a huge role in Arizona topping Nevada in an April betting handle

Thanks to a wide variety of legal sports betting apps. Arizona is gaining on Nevada for its yearly betting handle. Nevada’s yearly betting handle for 2024 is $2.85 billion. That’s $117.6 million more than Arizona. However, the Grand Canyon State has generated $931 million more in a mobile handle. Largely because Nevada is home to the betting capital of the world, Las Vegas. Where majority of their bets are in retail casinos and not on online sportsbooks. Additionally, Las Vegas requires in-person registration to gain access to mobile sportsbooks. 

States like Arizona have remote registration. Making their market easily accessible to residents all around the state. Since September 2021, 99% of Arizona’s sports betting handle is from mobile wagering. Compared to Nevada’s 62.4%.

What sportsbooks saw the most revenue in May 2024?

In most states with legal online sportsbooks, FanDuel and DraftKings dominate the market. That’s true in Arizona where the industry leaders were #1 and #2 for revenue and handle in April 2024. FanDuel reaped $27 million in gross winnings from a $230.3 million handle. That was an 11.7% hold while they surpassed $100 million in revenue for the year. DraftKings had $51.3 million in gross winnings from a $209.8 million handle. They had a 9.3% hold and cleared $400 million in all-time revenue. Through the first four months of 2024, Arizona is on pace to beat its revenue total from 2023.