Arizona Sports Betting Nearly Breaks Record with $864.2M

Arizona’s sports betting industry kicked off 2025 with its second-best month on record, falling just shy of setting a new high but signaling a robust and maturing market. According to newly released data from the Arizona Department of Gaming, sports wagering in January generated $864.2 million in handle — just 3.7% below the state’s all-time monthly record of $897.6 million, set in November 2024.

The January handle marked a 22.3% year-over-year increase and edged 1.8% above December’s total, underscoring the state's continued upward trend in betting activity. While it missed the record, the month demonstrated the consistency and growing engagement of Arizona’s sports bettors, driven in part by the NFL playoffs and a broader national surge in mobile wagering.

Online betting dominated the action, accounting for $857.9 million of the total handle. Retail sportsbooks contributed a modest $6.3 million, maintaining their niche role in Arizona’s mobile-first betting landscape. Gross revenue before deductions for free bets reached $83.6 million — up 17.9% from January 2024 and a sharp 63.6% leap over December. After deducting $30.4 million in promotional credits, adjusted gross revenue settled at $53.2 million, a 15.2% annual increase and more than double the previous month’s total.

These figures translated into a hold rate of 9.67% before deductions and 6.16% afterward — both solid metrics that reflect a healthy balance between operator margins and player payouts.

 

FanDuel Sets the Pace

FanDuel continues to dominate the Arizona market, posting $34.8 million in gross revenue from a $287.9 million handle, yielding a market-leading hold of 12.09%. DraftKings, its perennial rival, came in second with $26.5 million in revenue from $271.8 million in bets (9.75% hold).

BetMGM rounded out the top three with $9.8 million in revenue off a $100.4 million handle, while Caesars ($3.4 million) narrowly outpaced Fanatics ($3.4 million) in a tight mid-tier race. ESPN Bet and Bet365 also posted notable performances, with ESPN Bet surpassing the $1 million threshold — a marker of increasing competitive fragmentation in the state’s betting ecosystem.

Arizona collected $5.3 million in tax revenue from sports wagering in January, with nearly all of it ($5.3 million) coming from online activity, taxed at a 10% rate. Retail sportsbooks contributed just over $8,400, subject to an 8% tax. While modest compared to overall operator revenue, these tax receipts represent a growing source of public funding tied to the industry’s sustained expansion.

 

Arizona’s January numbers reflect not only the resilience of our sports betting market but also its maturation into one of the nation’s most competitive and consistent

 

The Next Steps

Arizona’s near-record performance in January illustrates the state’s emergence as a major player in the national sports betting scene. With top-tier operators continuing to invest and the public’s appetite for mobile wagering holding strong, the state appears poised for continued growth — and potentially new records — in 2025.

The challenge going forward will be sustaining momentum as the novelty of sports betting wears off and promotional spend stabilizes. Still, January’s results suggest Arizona’s market has legs — and fans aren’t ready to cash out just yet.