The temperature isn’t the only thing that’s hot in the Grand Canyon State. The sports betting industry is sizzling in Arizona and across the rest of the country. Researchers with the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) said they made almost 11% profit in May, which totaled $49.5 million.
The numbers from Arizona contribute to an astounding year of success for the national betting industry. Operators managed to keep more than 9% of a massive $101.8 billion bet across the country from July 1st 2022, to June 30th 2023. This is without the earnings reports for June from Arizona and Illinois, which aren’t out yet.
An Amazing May for Sports Betting in America
But taking a closer look at the May totals is impressive. The total amount of money bet in May was over $8.1 billion across the country. This is almost 10 times more than the $817.3 million bet in September 2018 and more than the $7.9 billion bet in September 2022.
The total profit of sports betting operators in the United States was 11.26% in May. This is the third highest in the last five years since PASPA was overturned. The only two higher profits were 11.71% in both September 2018 and September 2022.
Out of the 29 states where sports betting took place in May, 26 had profit rates of 10% or more. Only Nevada with a 5.7% profit rate and South Dakota with a 4.3% profit rate, didn’t reach the usual 7% profit rate that the betting industry aims for.
This shows how much more people are betting on sports in the U.S. In May, the total income of bookies was $916.6 million. This is almost $100 million more than the total bets placed in September 2018, when only five states had legal betting.
Arizona May Be Expanding Gambling Options
It appears that Arizona will add several more sports betting bullets to its arsenal in the coming months.
Back in June, the state’s gaming department started accepting applications for three more sports betting licenses. One of them is set aside for a tribal casino operator in the state. The other two are up for grabs by sports entertainment businesses in Arizona.
If they hand out all those licenses, that would mean there’d be 20 regulated sports betting options in Arizona. But it might not be easy to find takers. Many sports groups in the state are already involved in sports betting.
But there’s a good chance there’ll be interest in the tribal license. Originally, the state had ten licenses just for tribal operators. And guess what? There are even more tribal gaming authorities in Arizona.
More operators could mean more money for the state’s sports betting industry. This could even help Arizona sports betting businesses hit a record half a billion in profits this year, especially now that they’ve already passed the $200 million mark. We’ll keep you posted.
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