Iowa’s gambling authorities reported that the state has set a new sports betting handling record for the third month running. The Racing and Gaming Commission announced that more than $87.2 million was bet on sports in the Hawkeye State in November 2020, a 6.4% increase over October’s handle.
The numbers were naturally fueled by a particularly robust sports schedule, including the NFL, as well as customers’ appetite for safe, COVID-19-friendly betting options from their personal computers or mobile devices.
Among the highlights of Iowa’s November 2020 sports betting handle report:
- In the past three months, Iowa has reported a cumulative handle of $241.5 million – over a third of its overall handle since the state started accepting bets in August 2019.
- $62.4 million was wagered using online/mobile apps, bettering October’s mobile handle of $56.9 million.
- Iowan sports books collected more than $8.1 million from a hold percentage rate of 9.34%.
- The state received $550,000 in taxes in November, or $1.16 million over the past two months.
- The top mobile sports betting operator in Iowa is William Hill, which generated $27 million in handle in November. The group operates six properties in the state. In its full month of operations, William Hill’s Horsehoe Casino in Council Bluffs generated handle of $1.1 million.
- DraftKings is breathing down the neck of William Hill’s current dominance of the Iowan sports betting market. The group runs sportsbooks at three Wild Rose Casinos in the state, namely Clinton, Emmetsburg and Jefferson. Together, these properties generated mobile handle of around $15.1 million in November.
- This year, Iowa’s 19 state-licensed casinos posted adjusted gross revenue of $584.5 million, earning the state over $111.9 million in tax revenue.
888 to Expand into Iowa Next Year
In the meantime, the international online gambling group, 888 Holdings, announced that it would be expanding its sports betting services into Iowa next year.
In a statement, 888’s head of commercial development, Yaniv Sherman said: “We believe Iowa is a strong sports state. From the data we’ve seen, there’s been a quick adoption (of sports betting) and some encouraging growth trends.”
Sherman said that the more products that 888 Holdings was able to offer in the marketplace, the better positioned it will be to compete with other sports betting operators.
