March Madness Leads To Record Sports Betting Handle In Iowa

Iowa saw $161.4 million wagered on sports in March thanks to March Madness betting.
The state saw $13.4 million collected in revenue, a new state record.
The bulk of the wagers came from online and mobile betting operations.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa managed to successfully bounce back from the slight dips taken in February with a record-setting March in both sports betting handle and revenue.

Iowa was helped greatly by March Madness betting taking over the month, alongside remote registration for online and mobile sportsbooks.

The state also saw all-time sports betting revenue from taxes collected from regulated sportsbooks. Iowa’s sports betting market is becoming a powerhouse in the Midwest.

Iowa Betting Sets Records

Looking at the official report released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, it shows that $161,439,561.27 was wagered on sports in March.

This is an 11.1% increase from the $143.6 million collected in the short month of February and a 7% increase from the original betting record of $149.5 million set in January. So far, Iowa has seen big numbers in betting activity in 2021.

In terms of sports betting revenue, sportsbooks collected $13,454,157.60 from the wagers, an 8.33% yield rate. The state saw $908,011 collected in taxes as well from the 5.37% agreed-upon rate.

Mobile Betting Continues Dominance

Online and mobile betting continues to be the primary way Iowa betting fans place action. Of the total betting handle, $139,389,145.86 of all wagers came from bets made online. Retail sportsbooks saw the remaining $22,050,415.41.

Iowa betting fans have clearly embraced mobile and online sportsbooks, as more than $385.3 million have been wagered on computers and smartphones since 2021 started.

Of the mobile betting operations in Iowa, William Hill remains the most popular option for players in the Hawkeye State.

Despite competition arising from FanDuel, BetRivers, and DraftKings, William Hill saw $43.9 million wagered at their books in March. In contrast, both DraftKings and BetRivers combined for $43.7 million wagered.

FanDuel is currently the biggest competition for William Hill, however, as the sportsbook saw around $28.2 million bet on sports in March.

While William Hill continues to be the favorite sportsbook of Iowa residents, their foothold has slowly diminished with the growing popularity of the other sportsbooks.

The legal sports betting market could shift away from William Hill in Iowa in the coming months, should this trend continue.

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Giovanni Shorter

Coming from a background in narrative-based writing, Giovanni strives to write stories that will keep the reader engaged. Although he does pride himself in being accurate, how the story is told is also very important to him. When he’s not keeping readers up to date on sports betting laws and legislation, you can find him writing and recording music, playing videogames, or engaged in heated sports debates with his friends.