March was a much better month for sports betting in Iowa.
In February, there was a $40 million decrease in handle from January, and retail sportsbooks lost almost $600,000 in revenue.
For March, Iowa’s sports betting handle increased to $232.6 million, and revenue was up across the board.
Mobile sportsbooks make up 89.8% of Iowa’s sports betting handle
March is generally a busy month in the sports betting world with the big NCAA basketball tournament happening. March Madness was the surge Iowa needed to recover from a dismal February.
The total handle for the month was $232.6 million. Mobile sportsbooks collected $208.9 million in bets, and retail wagers came in at $23.6 million.
Mobile sports betting in Iowa made up 89.8% of the overall sports betting handle in the state.
With the online sports betting handle for March a little over $208 million, and after paying out $191.5 million, the overall profit was $17.5 million. This is up from $12.5 million in profit last month.
Retail sportsbooks back in the green
There may have been almost a $600,000 loss for retail sportsbooks in February, but Iowa rebounded in March.
After bringing in $23.6 million in bets and paying out $21.3 million, Iowa retailers booked a tidy profit of $2.3 million for the month.
Horseshoe Casino Council Bluffs booked the biggest retail profit bringing in $3.4 million in bets, paying out $2.9 million, and turning a profit of $511,064.
Ameristar II profited $431,551, and Diamond Jo, Worth made $360,918 to make up the top three retail sportsbooks for profit.
Lakeside Casino was the only property that did not make any money from retail wagers. They took in $288,806 in wagers but paid out $292,097 for a loss of $3,291. Lakeside did turn a profit of $29,530 overall for the month compared to a loss of just over $46,000 last month.
State tax bounces back for Iowa
February saw a dip in taxes from sports betting revenue as it dropped to $789,626 after being at $1.1 million in January.
For the month of March, Iowa collected almost $1.3 million from sports gambling revenue for a healthy increase month-over-month.
Iowa’s sports betting tax is a low 6.75%, but unlike most other states, there is no plan in place for the money.
As of now, the funds go into a ‘general fund,’ and the state can decide what to do with it.
