Despite Super Bowl, Arizona sportsbooks saw drop in activity in February

(The Center Square) – Arizona sportsbooks generated nearly $500 million in wagers in February.

Aided by the Super Bowl, the state still saw a slight downtick in wage revenue. Part of the reason for that was that February is a 28-day month while January is a 31-day month, according to PlayAZ.com.

“Arizona is following a similar pattern to more mature markets,” Eric Ramsey, an analyst for the PlayUSA.com Network, said in a press release. “As big a single event as the Super Bowl is, it can’t match a month like January that had five full weekends of football games. U.S. sports betting has predictable seasonal ebbs and flows that generally follow the football season, with a one-month exception in March because of the NCAA Tournament.”

Betters placed $491.7 million in wagers into Arizona’s legal sportsbooks in February, a 13% decline from the record $563.7 million in wagers sportsbooks received in January, according to data released Tuesday by the Arizona Department of Gaming.

In February, betters placed an average of $17.6 million in wagers per day. It was a decline from the $18.2 million per day in January.

Arizona sportsbooks won $25.6 million in gross revenue from February’s bets. It was a 39% decline from $41.9 million in January. When accounting for advertising revenue, the state had

$6.9 million in adjusted receipts to tax. That netted $670,686 in privilege fees for the state.

In the first six months of legal sports betting in Arizona, the state’s sportsbooks had produced $2.8 billion in online and retail wagers, $228.6 million in gross revenue, and $8.6 million in privilege fees.

“The first six months have been pretty extraordinary. If it wasn’t for New York, Arizona would be off to the fastest start in U.S. sports betting history,” C.J. Pierre, lead analyst for PlayAZ.com, said in the press release. “As the industry begins its seasonal dip, which typically begins in April, operators can take heart in knowing that the market has taken a giant leap forward.”

Nearly all of this betting is taking place online. Online sportsbooks accounted for 99.3% of wagers placed in February ($488.3 million). The rest ($3.4 million) came from retail sportsbooks.

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