Iowa sportsbetting market chalks up a record-setting September

Sportsbooks in the American state of Iowa reportedly pulled in aggregated online and retail handle of over $210.4 million last month thanks to increased activity connected to the start of this year’s National Football League (NFL) season.

According to a Friday report from The Gazette newspaper citing official information from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, the September tally represented a rise of 190.6% year-on-year and was some 94% higher than the previous month’s tally of $108.4 million. The source detailed that sportsbetting handle in ‘The Hawkeye State’ was also helped by the widespread return of collegiate football including last month’s Cy-Hawk Trophy gridiron contest between the Iowa State Cyclones and Iowa Hawkeyes.

Public purse:

Iowa legalized online and retail sportsbooks in August of 2019 while the September numbers reportedly broke the state’s single-month record of $161.4 million set as a result of the most recent ‘March Madness’ collegiate basketball tournament. Last month’s tally moreover purportedly pushed the year-to-date handle figure beyond the $1 billion mark for the first time and simultaneously took the associated tax benefit north of $5.2 million.

Friendly forecast:

Brian Ohorilko serves the Administrator for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission and he reportedly told the newspaper that the September result came despite a comparative decline in local marketing and advertising spend as the average daily handle figure increased from by 183.3% year-on-year to $6.8 million. He purportedly furthermore predicted that that state’s sportsbetting market is destined to remain ‘steady and strong’ through the football and upcoming basketball seasons and benefit as even more operators obtain an Iowa license.

Ohorilko reportedly stated…

“The excitement of both college football teams in Iowa has drawn some of the more casual fans. It’s important when you’re comparing numbers in sportsbetting to really look at the seasons because there are months that do better than others.”

Contrasting fortunes:

The Gazette reported that three online sportsbetting brands joined the Iowa market last month in Betway, Circa and Fubo while ten others are known to have recently started the licensing process. The source additionally disclosed that this growing club could further hurt the state’s 19 land-based commercial casinos, which saw their own aggregated sportsbook receipts for September crash by 15.5% month-on-month to slightly beyond $5.7 million.

Reportedly read the statement from Ohorilko…

“We are not sure if we will see continued growth in handle for the market because of that, or if we will start seeing some market shift as customers find and transition to the app they enjoy using the best.”

Prominent players:

The Gazette reported that the Ameristar Casino Hotel Council Bluffs, Horseshoe Council Bluffs and Harrah’s Council Bluffs Hotel and Casino venues all produced $136,130 in tax revenues from retail sportsbetting last month while the Diamond Jo Casino Dubuque was the largest land-based contributor at $134,116. Regarding online and the newspaper divulged that the app from Caesars Entertainment Incorporated handled Iowa wagers in September worth $66.5 million followed by DraftKings Incorporated’s competing service with $64.8 million.