The introduction of online registration helped Iowa’s sportsbooks reach an all-time high in both handle and revenue last month.
iGaming Business and Ficom Leisure are delighted to present the Iowa iGaming Dashboard, providing a monthly breakdown of the latest figures from the Hawkeye State’s regulated gambling market.
The data will be updated monthly following the official release of figures from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
Unsurprisingly, it was the online channel that benefited most from customers last month having the opportunity for the first time to sign up online rather than having to visit a land-based venue.
The state’s sportsbook made revenues of $8.4m in January, an 82.6% month-on-month rise and a fivefold increase on the same month in 2020.
Turnover was also up significantly, with last month’s $120.8m representing a 54.9% month-on-month increase and a 257% rise on January of 2020.
Interestingly, the jump in online play did not have a negative impact on the retail channel. Last month’s retail handle of $28.8m was also an all-time high, although it was a more modest 7.8% rise on the previous record of $26.7m, set in December 2020.
From that operators made revenues of $2.9m, in line with the previous two months and just shy of the record $3.0m in GGR taken in October 2019.
The change in player sign-up options appears to have contributed further to the shift in the market shares of operators last month.
Long-time market leader (on a GGR basis) Penn National’s Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino last month lost its crown to Boyd Gaming’s Diamond Jo Dubuque, which is partnered with FanDuel.
The latter topped the market with a 20.1% share, just ahead of Penn’s 20.0% share.
Via its tie-in with both the Dubuque property and the Diamond Jo in Worth, FanDuel has been steadily increasing its market share since launching an online offering in the state last September.
Wild Rose Casino Jefferson’s DraftKings sportsbook was third in terms of online market share, taking 11.9% last month.
On a combined retail and online basis, the William Hill-powered Prairie Meadows managed to retain its position at the top of the leaderboard, but only just. Its share of the market fell to 16.2% in January, down from 22.4% in December.
Here too it is FanDuel that appears to be chipping away at its lead, with the Diamond Jo Dubuque second with 15.5% of the market last month, while the Worth property had the third largest market share at 10.5%.
Ficom Leisure also provides monthly figures on New Jersey in the New Jersey iGaming Dashboard and Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania iGaming Dashboard.
It also provides monthly figures, available via iGamingBusiness.com, on the Italian online market in the Italy IGaming Dashboard, as well as quarterly figures on the Danish market in the Denmark iGaming Dashboard, the Spanish market in the Spain iGaming Dashboard, and the Portuguese market in the Portugal iGaming Dashboard.
A European corporate advisory firm, Ficom Leisure is a specialist in all segments of the betting and gaming sector.