March madness: Arizona sportsbooks set monthly record with nearly $700M in event bets

PHOENIX – Buoyed by the madness of the NCAA basketball tournament, Arizona sportsbooks handled a monthly record of nearly $700 million in event wagering in March.

The March handle was just under $691 million, about 40% higher than the February total, the Arizona Gaming Department reported Monday.

Bettors collected just over $652 million in winnings for the month, and the state took in about $1.7 million in privilege fees on the action.

With more than $230 million in wagers through its app, DraftKings had the largest March handle among the state’s authorized sportsbooks.

FanDuel was next at about $187 million, with more than $184 million in bets placed online and nearly $3 million at its in-person location at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

“March was an exciting month for Arizona event wagering, with major sporting events like NCAA’s March Madness helping set a single-month event wagering handle record,” Gaming Director Ted Vogt said in a press release.

The previous record was about $564 million in January. Betting on sporting events has been legal in Arizona since September 2021.

“I look forward to seeing how the industry continues to develop as we finish out the first year of legal event wagering in the coming months,” Vogt said.

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