All In from p 14 hometown team, the numbers show. “Arizona was a little sleeper, but stun- ningly, here we are passing $5 billion in handle,” Dorson said. “Arizona has become the biggest state in the West for sports betting.” For the sportsbook operators, that’s great news. Caesars Sportsbook last year became the first operator to launch in a new state on its first day of legalized sports wagering. “September 9, 2021, was a historic day for our company,” Eric Hession, president of Caesars Digital, said in an email to New Times. “When we look back on this momentous year, we’re encouraged about what lies ahead. Arizona is a state we take pride in.” Over the past year, Caesars Sportsbook and its competitors doled out $4.7 billion in winning bets to gamblers in Arizona. But with big upsets such as the Phoenix Suns’ Game 7 collapse in May, the industry still raked in a cool $400 million, to the delight of Hession and competitors. Meanwhile, the industry contributed just $32 million to state coffers in its first year, according to the state gaming agency. Arizona’s tax rate for operators is 10 percent for online wagers and 8 percent for retail bets. In New York, for comparison, the tax rate is 51 percent, according to Front Office Sports. Across the U.S., the average sportsbook tax rate is 19 percent, according to Morgan Stanley. The average state converts more than one percent of its handle into tax revenue, said Victor Matheson, a professor of sports economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In Arizona, that number is much lower — just a few tenths of a percent. “Most of that handle is money changing hands without the government getting any of it,” he said. ‘Truly a Historic Event’ Despite a record-smashing inaugural year for sports betting in Arizona, the $32 million the state scraped in is a far cry from early estimates. State Representative Jeff Weninger, a Republican from Chandler, sponsored the legislation greenlighting sports gambling and predicted the move could bring as much as $100 million a year into state coffers. Unlike in other states, public interest groups in Arizona left the issue well enough alone. As did everyone else, save for a pair of lawsuits last summer. In August, the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe sued the state and claimed the expansion of gaming through legislative action was unconstitutional. Turf Paradise Racetrack in Phoenix followed suit in late August and argued it was sliced out of the licensing process. Hearings on both lawsuits are slated for this month. Korbin Otley Ducey doesn’t seem to have any qualms about the state’s share of the pie. “We’ve achieved all of this through a lot of hard work,” Ducey’s spokesperson, C.J. Karamargin, told New Times. “I think the signing of that compact was truly a historic event because it marked the first time in nearly two decades that any changes had been made to the [gambling] law in Arizona. What we’re seeing now are the dividends of that hard work.” The legislation Ducey signed into law in April 2021 was a compact made up of companion bills from the Arizona House and Senate that allowed for 20 sports betting licenses — 10 to Native American tribes and 10 to professional sports teams. Each license requires a sports betting oper- ator to be involved. The state could see more cash flow if it issued additional licenses to more Native American tribes, which already dominate contributions to the state gaming depart- ment. “Tribal gaming, for example, contrib- utes over $100 million to the state,” said Maxwell Hartgraves, a spokesperson for the state gaming agency. That’s an understate- ment — reports show tribal gaming contri- butions totaled more than $123 million between July 1, 2021, and June 30. Limiting the market to 10 licenses, which NBA Located directly outside the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix, the FanDuel Sportsbook features more than 70 cushy seats, 40 television displays, and plenty of betting windows designed specifically for Suns fans. Ducey did when he signed the sports betting bill into law, not only takes away potential profits for the state — it could also inhibit tribes from maximizing gambling profits, some industry experts said. A spokesperson for the National Indian The new BetMGM Sportsbook at State Farm Stadium. Gaming Commission declined to comment. Instead of selling the coveted licenses at auction, which could have brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the state treasury, the compact offered the professional sports club owners of metro Phoenix unfettered access to the state’s bookmaking operations. Campaign finance reports reveal that Alex Maruelo, who owns the Arizona Coyotes, donated about $80,000 to the campaigns of lawmakers who support legislation that would let him open his SaharaBets Sportsbook at the Coyotes’ new arena and entertainment district in Tempe. Retail Therapy Arizona is unique in that it allows both mobile betting and in-person retail sports betting. If Maruelo’s efforts bear out, his in-stadium sportsbook would join 25 other brick-and-mortar operations in the state, with a few more already in the works. Hession said Caesars is mulling a retail sportsbook in its Harrah’s Ak-Chin resort in South Phoenix. A DraftKings Sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale and a BetMGM Sportsbook at Gila River Santan Mountain Casino are expected to open in the fall of 2023. A Barstool Sportsbook at Phoenix Raceway has been rumored, but there hasn’t been an official announcement just yet. >> p 19 17 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES SEPT 22ND–SEPT 28TH, 2022