The return of football in 2022 was more than welcome in Arizona, as figures released yesterday by the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) showed the state's retail and online sports betting sites saw whopping increases in action in September. 

The legal sports betting handle for September clocked in just under $538 million, a $177 million increase from the previous month and a whopping 84.5% year-over-year increase from this time last year — which was the state's first month with regulated sports wagering.

"September was clearly a strong month for Arizona sports betting, with the state seeing over $245 million more in wagers when compared to the same month of 2021," said ADG Director Ted Vogt in a press release. "I am excited to see how the industry progresses through the winter months, which generally has the most popular sports for wagering in the United States."

Revenue for the state operators clocked in at $55.2 million, an $18.9 million (52.1%) improvement from August and a 74.7% ($23.6 million) increase from the same month in 2021 — although there was a dip in hold percentage as September 2022's win rate of 10.3% was slightly below the 2021 mark of 10.9%.

Adjusted gross revenue was perhaps the biggest difference year-over-year. Promotional credits and deductions ate up far less of the bottom line as operators posted an adjusted gross revenue of $30.7 million in September 2022 — compared to just $392K in 2021 — means the state collected just under $3.1 million in privilege fees (aka revenue tax)... against just $31K the previous year.

More money... because more operators?

Arizona's first month of regulated sports betting featured eight mobile operators, with two of them having a retail presence, and the combination of DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel, and Caesars accounting for almost 90% of the online betting handle.

Fast-forward a year... and those four gobbled up 90.5% of the online handle — except it's now really a two-horse race with DraftKings ($215.6 million) and FanDuel ($144.8 million) providing two-thirds of the mobile action in a market that had 18 active operators, with three having a retail presence.