Arizona sportsbooks post record $67.7M monthly revenue in December, capping 2023 at $557.4 million

Sportsbooks in Arizona closed out the 2023 calendar year on a high note, reporting a monthly record revenue of $67.7 million in December, according to the state's Department of Gaming. This figure exceeded the previous high of $60.1 million in September. The top three revenue totals in 28 months of wagering were recorded in the final four months of 2023.

The strong finish to 2023 contributed to a gross revenue of $557.4 million for the full year, marking a 17.8% increase compared to 2022. Meanwhile, the 8.5% hold saw nearly two-thirds of a percentage point rise.

The total handle for December reached $693.3 million, a 21.1% increase compared to the same month in 2022, but 2.8% lower than November's record of $713.6 million. In 2023, Arizona sportsbooks accepted over $6.57 billion in bets, an 8.9% increase from the previous year.

The state's adjusted gross revenue, eligible for taxation, reached an all-time monthly high of $48.3 million, resulting in $4.8 million in tax receipts from December's activity. The collected tax revenue of $34.8 million for the year surpassed 2022 by $5.9 million, bringing the all-time total to $69.6 million.

All in all, Arizona contributed to a record-breaking year for sports wagering nationwide, which was recorded at over $121 billion in handle and more than $10.8 billion in gross revenue. The 9.1% hold represented an increase of more than one full percentage point compared to 2022, and state tax revenue totaled $2.15 billion.

FanDuel set a state monthly record for gross revenue in December at $29.1 million. DraftKings followed closely, surpassing $20 million in revenue for the third time in the final four months of 2023, with a win rate of 9%.

BetMGM came third in revenue and handle, achieving a 10.5% hold with $8.7 million in gross winnings from $82.7 million handle. Caesars and ESPN BET rounded out the top five in handle, with ESPN BET surpassing its first-year target of 7% in mobile handle for December.

Desert Diamond led among local mobile sportsbooks for both December and 2023, closing the year with $414,000 in winnings from $7.4 million handle, marking a breakthrough year with a seven-fold increase in accepted bets compared to 2022.

Retail handle reached an all-time monthly high of $8.2 million in December, with DraftKings' brick-and-mortar sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale accounting for almost one-third of that amount at $2.7 million. Overall, retail sportsbooks generated $790,000 in gross revenue and handled $63.3 million in bets, a 46.4% increase compared to 2022.