Iowa Sports Betting Revenue, Handle and Taxes
Iowa Gambling Trends
Iowa Sports Betting Data
| Month | Handle | Handle Per Capita | Revenue | Hold | Taxes |
| December 2023 | $282,723,930 | $138 | $26,286,446 | 9.3% | $1,774,335 |
| November 2023 | $289,698,466 | $141 | $14,134,412 | 4.9% | $954,073 |
| October 2023 | $255,293,522 | $124 | $24,189,686 | 9.5% | $1,632,804 |
| September 2023 | $245,759,020 | $120 | $24,078,590 | 9.8% | $1,625,305 |
| August 2023 | $141,295,039 | $69 | $13,533,730 | 9.6% | $913,527 |
| July 2023 | $109,680,895 | $53 | $10,602,043 | 9.7% | $715,638 |
| June 2023 | $115,595,593 | $56 | $7,153,370 | 6.2% | $482,852 |
| May 2023 | $147,715,126 | $72 | $16,632,751 | 11.3% | $1,122,711 |
| April 2023 | $172,589,394 | $84 | $14,127,483 | 8.2% | $953,605 |
| March 2023 | $232,614,150 | $113 | $19,857,112 | 8.5% | $1,340,355 |
Iowa Sports Betting Revenue
Iowa is a sports haven located in the heartland. Even though there are no major league franchises within its borders, the Hawkeye State is so emphatic about enjoying sports and sporting events that it became the 11th state to legalize sports betting back in May 2019. Online sportsbooks and retail betting sites launched simultaneously just a few months later, in August.
Iowa now has 19 online sportsbooks and more than a dozen retail betting sites available for Iowans to place wagers with. This includes industry giants like FanDuel, DraftKings, Caesars and BetMGM. Iowa sports betting handle from August 2019 on is now over $6.2 billion. Iowa sports betting revenue from that same starting point has now surpassed $438 million. Iowa sports betting taxes have generated more than $29 million for the state to date.
More recently, Iowa sports betting handle surpassed $2.3 billion in 2022 and Iowa sports betting handle for 2023 through June is just over $1 billion. Iowa sports betting revenue surpassed $165 million in 2022 and sits at more than $86 million through the first six months of 2023.
Below, we discuss Iowa sports betting taxes and Iowa sports betting revenue by state, as well as detail Iowa sports betting revenue and Iowa sports betting hold to show you how the state has fared financially since legalized sports betting launched.
Iowa Sports Betting Taxes
Sports betting taxes are of great importance to bettors, who obviously want to keep as much of their winnings as possible. The IA sports betting tax rate is one of the most competitive in the nation. Iowa sports betting taxes have generated more than $29 million to date. The current Iowa sports betting tax rate is 6.75%. Only Tennessee, now at 1.85%, and Nevada, which also has a 6.75% tax rate, compares. This current Iowa sports betting tax rate is significantly lower than the national average of 19%. Although one of the smaller states in the union, Iowa bettors will most likely generate more significant revenue for Iowa sports betting taxes because of this low tax rate.
Iowa Sports Betting Handle
Sports betting handle refers to the total amount of money that has been wagered by a specific population. Nationally, people are betting regularly on sports. The sports betting handle for the entire country in 2022 was over $93.7 billion, which was more than $36 billion more than 2021. The national 2023 sports betting handle through May was already at $40 billion. Sports betting continues to grow and grow and Iowa sports betting revenue by state is impressive.
The most recent Iowa sports betting handle came in at $115,595,592 million for June 2023. That was more than $32 million lower than May 2023, and nearly $7 million lower than June 2022. The June 2023 total was the lowest in the Hawkeye State since July 2022, when Iowa sports betting handle totalled a little more than $108.5 million.
The summer months are typically the lowest across the country, with no live football or basketball to wager on, and that was true in Iowa as well in 2022. The state averaged more than $195.6 million a month in Iowa sports betting handle in 2022, but only averaged a little over $117.85 million the months of June, July and August. With no local pro teams for the four major North American sports, as well as no MLS or WNBA teams, Iowans have less local teams to wager on than most other states with legalized sports betting.
Iowa Sports Betting Handle Per Capita
Iowa is currently the 32nd largest state in terms of population with just over 3.2 million residents. The Iowa sports betting handle per capita in 2022 was $705, placing it 7th overall for states with legalized sports betting. As the Iowa sports betting tax percentage is one of the best in the nation, this high per capita standing makes sense. Per capita in this sense is the annual sports betting handle of a state divided by that state’s population.
Iowa Sports Betting Hold
Sports betting hold is defined as the percentage of money that a sportsbook keeps for every dollar wagered by users. For example, if a sportsbook has a monthly handle of $10 million and a revenue of $2 million, that means they paid out $8 million in winnings. That also means that the hold would be 20%.
Through six months of 2023, the Iowa sports betting hold percentage is 7.83%, which is .73% higher than the Iowa sports betting hold percentage from 2022, which was 7.1%. The Iowa sports betting hold for 2023 is significantly lower than the national average, which is 9.05% year to date. The Iowa sports betting hold percentage was considerably lower than the national average in 2022 as well, as that 7.1% was lower than the national average by a full 1%.
FAQs
Yes, Iowa sports betting taxes are imposed on all Iowa residents who participate in and win in sports betting. They have to pay the Iowa sports betting tax rate of 6.75% on all winnings. Iowa sports betting taxes have brought in more than $29.5 million to the state since August 2019.
The Iowa sports betting handle for the first six months of 2023 totals $1,096,013,512 for an average of more than $182.67 million per month. The total Iowa sports betting handle to date is $6,285,262,130.
The Iowa sports betting hold through the first six months of 2023 is 7.83%. The Iowa sports betting hold for all of 2022 was 7.1%. Both of these percentages are significantly lower than the national average for the same time periods.
Iowa sports betting revenue has surpassed $438,174,755 to date.
Thanks to Iowa sports betting taxes that currently stand at 6.75%, which is significantly below the national average of 19%, the state has generated $29,576,938 in sports betting taxes to date.