Iowa hit new highs in both online and retail sports betting revenue, as well as in overall handle, in March as operators continued to benefit from online registration.
iGaming Business and Ficom Leisure are delighted to present the Iowa sports betting Dashboard, providing a monthly breakdown of the latest figures from the Hawkeye State’s regulated gambling market.
The data will be updated monthly following the official release of figures from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
Overall, players staked $161.5m, up 12.4% from February and more than eight times the amount recorded in March 2020, when sportsbooks were disrupted by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Players staked $139.4m online, up 11.3% from February’s record, thanks in part to both January’s launch of online registration and the NCAA basketball tournament in March.
While retail handle could not match January’s high, it was up 20.1% from February and more than 250% from March 2020.
Combined revenue, meanwhile, was $13.4m, more than 12 times the amount recorded a year prior and up 83.1% month-on-month. While most of this was made online, with the $10.3m taken in easily shattering January’s record, retail betting’s $3.1m in revenue was also a new high.
Both the Iowa online and retail sports betting markets remain divided in terms of licensees’ market shares, but when examining revenue share among online brands, DraftKings and FanDuel stand out above the rest.
The DIamond Jo Casino in Dubeque and its FanDuel sportsbook led the online market, but with just a 17.7% share. Close behind were DraftKings and Wild Rose Jefferson with 16.0%. Wild Rose Clinton – another DraftKings licensee – followed with 10.1% of the online market, while FanDuel’s operations in partnership with Diamond Jo Worth made up 10.0%.
The retail market was even more divided among licensees, but the two Diamond Jo casinos and their FanDuel retail sportsbooks led the way, with the Dubeque location making up 14.4% of the market and Diamond Jo Worth 13.1%. The Wild Rose Jefferson Casino brought in 12.3%.