Arizona became the sixth state in the post-PASPA era to surpass $25 billion handle after the state’s Department of Gaming reported $746.4 million worth of wagering for April.
The Grand Canyon State joins New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Nevada, and Pennsylvania in the select circle, though Colorado is expected to also join the list shortly when it publishes June numbers. Arizona has cleared $700 million in handle seven of the last eight months and fell short of that benchmark by less than $275,000 in February.
Sportsbooks had a strong end to the NCAA Tournament and start of the MLB season as they collected $65.9 million in gross revenue while posting an 8.8% hold in April. The winnings are a high-water mark for the first four months of 2025, edging out February’s total by $306,457, and up 1.5% compared to last year.
The state was eligible to levy taxes on $43.4 million in adjusted gross revenue (AGR), redirecting $4.3 million into its coffers. The 65.8% of AGR to total revenue was the highest percentage since reaching 66.6% last November.
DraftKings grabs top handle spot
| Year | Handle | Year-over-Year Growth |
| 2021 | $1,743,249,641 | N/A |
| 2022 | $6,036,844,930 | 34.6%* |
| 2023 | $6,573,800,272 | 8.9% |
| 2024 | $7,959,647,196 | 21.1% |
| 2025 | $3,197,774,050 | 15.9%** |
| TOTALS | $25,511,316,089 |
*Comparable year-over-year (Sept.-Dec.)
**Comparable year-over-year (Jan.-Apr.)
Arizona continued to solidify itself as the pinnacle of sports betting handle in the West. It surpassed neighboring Nevada for the sixth consecutive month and finished in the top five nationally for the second straight month.
DraftKings and FanDuel flipped spots for handle compared to last year, with the former’s $237.5 million in accepted wagers up 13.2% from April 2024. In contrast, FanDuel’s $227.2 million handle dipped 1.4%.
FanDuel kept the status quo in terms of revenue, though its $23.3 million in gross revenue represented a 13.4% decline despite the 10.3% hold. DraftKings’ 8.8% win rate was just below the overall percentage for the state as it claimed $20.8 million in gross winnings.
Both online titans kept bettors engaged with credits and bonuses with more than $6 million spend. In the case of FanDuel, that lifted its known all-time spend in Arizona above $250 million. DraftKings is not far behind at $243.4 million.
BetMGM remained a clear-cut No. 3 for action. Its $85.7 million handle was up 12.1%, but revenue slipped 4.7% to $8.1 million as the 9.5% hold was down nearly 1.7 percentage points. While BetMGM had a healthy promo spend of $2.2 million, that was down 22% from last year, and the $11.1 million outlay this year is 14.7% lower than the first four months of 2024.
Fanatics created more separation between itself and bet365 as the pair again rounded out the top five. Fanatics hit an all-time high for handle at $63.3 million, a four-fold increase from when it launched in April 2024. Its $5.5 million in gross revenue and $2.4 million AGR were also bests in Arizona.
Bet365 looked to have pulled back on credits and bonuses — its $985,600 in offerings marked the first time since last August the outlay was less than $1 million. Its $43.2 million handle was up 43.2% year-over-year, and the $2.7 million in winnings from the 6.3% hold attained represented a 38.1% gain.
As Fanatics and bet365 continue to gain, ESPN Bet is losing market share. It has seen year-over-year handle decline all four months of 2025, with April’s $18.3 million off 15.2%. Despite the lesser action, the $6.7 million in year-to-date gross revenue is up 8.9% from 2024 since its 7.7% hold is up 2.8 percentage points.
Putting a wrap on April
| Year | Handle | Gross Revenue | Hold | State Tax Revenue |
| 2019 | $731,081,405 | $52,379,793 | 7.16% | $7,054,679 |
| 2020 | $139,180,550 | $8,353,626 | 6.00% | $2,038,193 |
| 2021 | $3,703,619,608 | $285,401,587 | 7.71% | $40,306,027 |
| 2022 | $7,489,681,875 | $528,133,428 | 7.05% | $109,192,797 |
| 2023 | $9,180,316,258 | $870,398,153 | 9.48% | $170,365,382 |
| 2024* | $12,092,308,322 | $1,145,600,062 | 9.78% | $238,573,018 |
| 2025* | $13,187,868,895 | $1,177,628,960 | 9.25% | $268,495,623 |
*Hold calculations do not include Tennessee handle and Nebraska revenue
Overall, it was a fairly good April for sportsbooks nationwide despite the hold dropping more than one-half of a percentage point. Year-over-year handle nationally was up 9.1%, which outpaced the more modest 2.8% bump in gross revenue.
Half of the 32 states that publish handle and revenue figures were able to post double-digit holds, and another eight eclipsed 9%. Nevada was the only state to fail to reach the 7% industry standard, but it came close at 6.9%.
The near-$30 million in additional tax revenue can be largely attributed to Illinois and New York, whose coffers saw a combined increase of $33.5 million compared to April 2024. Illinois’ switch to a progressive tax based on revenue netted it $24.9 million, and New York saw an increase of $8.6 million. On the flip side, North Carolina reported $10.5 million less in tax revenue for April, which is currently the largest year-over-year decline in terms of dollars.
