If you supported sports betting in Arizona, you’re probably a happy person right about now. The first full year of gambling raked in $5 billion, more than surpassing expectations.
“A year ago, I was thinking maybe if the state is lucky, it might at some point this year hit $500 million for wagers in a single month,” said Chris Boan, lead writer for BetArizona.com. “And it’s hit that number three times, and two other months it was above $490 million and was within an eyelash of that $500 million benchmark.”
Credit goes in part to the approach taken by the state. The regulations called for 20 sports betting licenses, 10 earmarked for Native American tribes and 10 to pro sports teams. The tribes took all 10 of their allotted licenses, but only eight teams received licenses, leaving room for improvement, according to Cronkite News.
And let’s not forget the privilege fee and licensing fee which put more than $30 million into the state general fund, said Maxwell Hartgraves, a public information officer for the Arizona Department of Gaming.
“That is definitely a positive from sports betting and fantasy sports,” Hartgraves said. “Not to mention new employees, new companies coming into the state.”
Arizona has a relatively low tax rate: 8 percent for retail revenue and 10 percent for the much larger online component.
The state could make more money by issuing the two remaining team licenses and could change the law to accept more tribal licenses.
Then again, the tribes aren’t short on gambling money. Tribal gaming produced $123 million to the state in the 12 months ending June 30.
Part of what has made Arizona so successful in just one year is the state’s approach to sports betting, said Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of B Global.
“Arizona offered a unique model and sort of advanced on two fronts,” he said. “One that tribes would be considered on a commercial level to go statewide. And then introduced the ability for teams to have direct access to licenses in a combined format. Looking at it now a year later, the market continues to be a success.”
Brandt Iden, now head of U.S. government affairs for leading global sports technology company SportRadar, believes there is more than meets the eye when it comes to gambling legislation.
“It’s a very tumultuous process. Sometimes it takes a while to get gaming done in a lot of states and it goes to show you, you’ve gotta continually work at it to get over the finish line,” Iden said.
Kansas should be so lucky. The state went full blast with its sports betting program after a soft launch on September 1. The early betting allowed both customers and the sportsbooks to get used to each other and work out any kinks before the September 8 opening of the NFL season.
The Kansas Lottery, which operates the sports betting phase, says players won’t notice a difference between lottery and sports wagers, according to KSHB.
“Folks have been wagering effectively on all the platforms. Our casino partners and all the platforms have been doing a great job of getting people to understand how sports wagering works here in the state, and it’s worked for them very well,” said Stephen Durrell, executive director of Kansas Lottery.
Players bet most often on Kansas State University, the University of Kansas and the Kansas City Royals. The Chiefs hadn’t been in play for enough time. Durrell says that will change.
“KU and K-State are very popular, and as we get into basketball season, which will remain popular,” Durrell said. “The Chiefs are going to be extremely popular. Folks really like to wager on the home teams.”
Some people notified the Kansas Lottery that credit card transactions weren’t going through, preventing some players from placing bets. Although the issues were not widespread, Durrell says they have since been addressed. Select credit card companies were unaware that sports betting went live in Kansas.
“There was evidence over the last week that people outside the state tried to place wagers when they shouldn’t, but the law is very clear that they had to actually be located in the state to place a wager,” Durrell said.
