Iowa Sports Betting Bucked Four-Month Negative Trend in August

A four-month negative trend in Iowa has come to an end in August after the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC)’s sports wagering monthly report showed an increase in betting handle.

Sports Betting Bounced Back

The sports wagering report revealed that retail and online sportsbooks in Hawkeye State generated $122.6 million in handle in the month to post an increase of 12.9% from $108.6 million in July and a 12.4% increase as compared to August 2021. The monthly result put an end to the downward trend after the betting handle peaked in March at $233.5 million.

Online sports betting operations accounted for $110.1 million, keeping the share of internet sports wagering just under 90% of the total. In July, online wagers exceeded 90% of the total.

In August, sportsbooks paid out $108.2 million in winning bets and kept 14.4 million in sports betting revenue, posting an increase of 29.7% on a sequential base and registering a hold of 11.8%, well above the June low of 5.4%.

For comparison, winning wagers in July, $97.4 million, let operators and their casino partners keep $11.1 million, registering a hold of 10.3%.

The lion’s share of the betting revenue was generated through internet wagering which accounted for $11.7 million, or 81.3% of the total. For comparison, July’s online wagering revenue, $10.1 million, accounted for 91% of the total.

Top Three Almost Unchanged

Among individual casinos, the top three places were occupied by Diamond Jo Dubuque, Wild Rose Jefferson and Diamond Jo Worth, generating $29.7 million, 17.2 million and $16.4 million in betting handle,  and keeping $3.3 million, 1.7 million and $2.2 million in revenue, respectively. Diamond Jo’s partners are FanDuel, Circa Sports and BetMGM, while Wild Rose operates in partnerships with DraftKings, Betway and BetRivers.

Among individual operators, DraftKings remained on top with $33.2 million in handle and $3.5 million in revenue, followed closely by FanDuel with $29.3 million in wagers and $3.2 million in revenue.

Caesars remained third with $22.1 million in total wagers and $2.4 million in revenue, while BetMGM was left further behind with $12.5 million and $1.4 million in betting handle and revenue, respectively.