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Iowa sports betting revenue up 60.8% in October

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The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission revealed that sports betting revenue rose 60.8% year-on-year in October, aided by strong growth in online handle for the month. 

Amounts wagered in the state grew 76.1% to $81.9m from October 2019 – the third month of legal wagering in Iowa – thanks to growth in online stakes. This broke the monthly record for amounts wagered, set in September this year. 

While retail handle was up 21.6% from the prior year at $25.0m, amounts wagered online more than doubled year-on-year to $56.9m, which also represented a 13.7% improvement on September 2020’s total. 

After payouts of $72.8m across both channels, this left revenue of $9.1m, which broke down to $2.7m from retail wagering (down 9.8%), and $6.4m from online (up 140.2%). 

In terms of operators’ market share, William Hill’s sportsbook at Penn National’s Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino led the market in terms of handle and revenue. Customers wagered $19.8m at the property and via its app (with $18.4m staked online), for revenue of $2.3m. 

Coming second for handle was the Diamond Jo in Worth’s FanDuel sportsbook, where customers staked $8.3m. Retail accounted for $5.4m of the total, with the remaining $2.9m coming from its online sportsbook, which launched in September. 

However, Diamond Jo’s revenue of $790,877 left it in fourth for statewide revenue, behind Wild Rose Casino in Jefferson’s DraftKings sportsbook in second, where customers staked $8.2m – $8.0m of that online – for revenue of $877,082. 

Another Penn National venue, Ameristar II followed in third. That property’s revenue of $848,087 came entirely from retail betting, on stakes of $5.6m.