Arizona showed few signs of a sophomore slump in its second full year of legal sports wagering, further solidifying itself as one of the nation’s top markets after the state’s Department of Gaming on Friday reported handle totaling $358.9 million for August.
The Grand Canyon State has accepted $11.7 billion worth of wagers since accepting its first bets in September 2021, trailing only Illinois for the highest handle in the post-PASPA era in a state’s first 24 months of legal wagering. Arizona did have the luxury of launching after the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically impacted multiple months in 2020 for other states. It also was the beneficiary of a robust mobile betting market — something not all states had at the time of their respective launches.
The following table compares states’ handles in their first two years after launch.
| State | Handle | First Wagers Accepted |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois | $12,262,163,797 | March 2020 |
| ARIZONA | $11,688,072,321 | September 2021 |
| Nevada | $9,717,277,841 | June 2018 |
| Virginia | $8,136,745,865 | January 2021 |
| New Jersey | $7,219,456,031 | June 2018 |
| Colorado | $6,945,433,142 | May 2020 |
| Michigan | $6,575,617,449 | March 2020 |
| Tennessee | $6,013,135,483 | November 2020 |
| Indiana | $4,290,786,069 | September 2019 |
| Pennsylvania | $4,048,118,489 | November 2018 |
The handle for August was the fifth-lowest in state history and down 0.6% compared to the same month last year. Gross revenue totaled $31.7 million, down 12.7% from August 2022, as the 8.8% hold was 1.2 percentage points less than August 2022 and two percentage points less than July.