Online sports betting handle hit a new all-time high last month as Iowans continued to take advantage of their newfound ability to register online.
iGaming Business and Ficom Leisure are delighted to present the Iowa iGaming 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.
But though sportsbooks took in turnover of $125.2m in February, which was only the second month where bettors did not have to visit a land-based venue to open an account, this did not translate into similarly record-breaking revenues.
Online GGR fell to $6.0m in February, down from January’s record $8.4m, though it’s worth pointing out that last month’s total did represent a fourfold increase on a year-on-year basis. Last February online GGR was just $1.4m.
The land-based sportsbooks didn’t fare as well last month. Turnover was down on both a month-on-month and year-on-year basis, with February’s $18.4m representing a 36.1% drop on January’s total and a 3.7% fall on the same month last year.
On a revenue basis, it was more of a mixed picture. Last month’s $1.7m was down 41.4% on January’s total, but up significantly on last February, when bookies made a loss of $0.6m.
After being overtaken as online market leader by the Fan Duel-powered Boyd Gaming Diamond Jo Dubuque property in January, Penn National’s Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino managed to regain its lead last month, taking 21.3% of the market.
Though this was some way ahead of the second-placed Diamond Jo Dubuque at 15.5%, Prairie Meadows’ lead has been steadily declining since December 2019, when it held a more than 60% share.
Wild Rose Casino Jefferson’s DraftKings sportsbook remained in third place last month, increasing its share to 13.6%, up from 11.9% in January.
The importance of the online channel is clearly demonstrated when looking at the combined online/retail market shares, with the same three operators taking first, second and third position here as in the online-only market.
Competition from other venues means the percentages are slightly lower in the combined market, however, with Prairie Meadows at 18.5%, Diamond Jo Dubuque at 12.8% and Wild Rose at 11.5%.
Ficom Leisure also provides monthly figures on New Jersey in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard and Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard.
It also provides monthly figures, available via iGamingBusiness.com, on the Italian online market in the Italy IGaming Dashboard, as well as quarterly figures on the Danish market in the Denmark iGaming Dashboard, the Spanish market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard, and the Portuguese market in the Portugal iGaming Dashboard.
A European corporate advisory firm, Ficom Leisure is a specialist in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.