Sports Betting in 2023: States that are wagering the most
A report from nodepositrewards.com identifies the states wagering the most in 2023
- New Jersey has spent the most per capita out of all states so far on sports betting in 2023
- New York has the second highest spend per capita in America
- Arizona has the third highest spend per capita on sports betting
Currently between January and July this year America has wagered over $59 billion. This is a 176% increase from the entire of 2020 and a 4% increase from 2021. Last year Americans wagered $85 billion, so projections would suggest that in 2023 the total amount wagered may surpass over $100 billion.
Research by NoDepositRewards analyzed the state-wide reported figures up to July 2023 and calculated how much has been wagered per capita (only including the population that is over 18) in every state.
Nevada has a handle of $1,766.44 per capita, however we decided to not include this state in the rankings due to not being able to differentiate how much of this handle is from gambling tourism within Las Vegas.
1 – New Jersey
Legal online sportsbooks began taking bets in August 2018, two months after the law was signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. Since then New Jersey has seen a huge increase in wagers. New Jersey so far in 2023 has wagered over $5.7 billion which is equal to $790.68 per person.
Handle per capita: $790.68
2 – New York
It hasn’t taken long for New Yorkers to show their love of sports betting. With nine sportsbooks kicking off online betting in 2022. New York has seen the most money wagered in sports betting across all states, with over $10.1 billion already wagered in 2023 that’s a 23% increase from the entire of 2022! New York does have a much higher population so this equates to $644.93 per capita.
Handle per capita: $644.93
3 – Arizona
Arizona is also experiencing a surge in sports betting, with $3.2 billion already wagered this year that’s an 85% increase on 2021’s yearly figures. Based on figures from this time last year Arizona has wagered 6% more in 2023 as well. Arizona’s adult population is around 5.7 million, which means that each person could have wagered $559.06.
Handle per capita: $559.06
4 – Colorado
Colorado legalized sports betting in 2020 and since then has seen huge growth in the market. With over $12 billion in total handle, $2.5 billion of that has been in 2023. Divided by the total adult population of around 4 million it equates to $558.02 per person.
Handle per capita: $558.02
5 – Illinois
Residents of Illinois in 2023 have so far wagered just over $5.4 billion which is a 13.8% increase on the total from January to July 2022. This means that each adult could’ve have wagered $457.99 so far this year.
Handle per capita: $457.99
6 – Iowa
Iowa in total has wagered over $6 billion since sports betting was made legal. $1.2 billion of that total has been in 2023. Iowa has one of the lowest populations in this list with around 2.4 million adults. That means that between January and July this year each member of the population could have wagered $486.95.
Handle per capita: $486.95
7 – Maryland
Maryland began sports betting in 2021. Between January and June 2022 residents of Maryland wagered around $173 million. So far in 2023 over $2.3 billion has been wagered, that’s a 1,234% increase! With just over 4.8 million adults in Maryland that’s equal to $480.98 per person.
Handle per capita: $480.98
8 – Kansas
Kansas began sports betting in 2022 and so far in 2023 there has been over $1 billion in wagers, that’s equal to $461.88 per capita.
Handle per capita: $461.88
9 – Indiana
In 2022 Indiana wagered over $4.4 billion. So far in 2023 there have been over $2.2 billion in wagers which shows that Indiana although hasn’t experienced the same growth as some other states is maintaining a solid baseline for possible future growth.
Handle per capita: $427.34
10 – New Hampshire
New Hampshire has the smallest population in this list with around only 1.1 million residents. Despite this there is still interest in sports betting and with $481 million already wagered in 2023 there can be further growth expected.
Handle per capita: $421.09
Mason Jones from NoDepositRewards commented: “Sports betting has been growing exponentially in America since its legalization in many states. In just 2 years wagers have gone from $21 billion in 2020, to 85 billion in 2022. So far in 2023 there has been a total of $59 billion, this is a 176% increase on 2020 figures and a 3% increase on the whole of 2021 and it’s only halfway through the year! Sports betting seems to only be growing in popularity and trends suggest it will only continue to grow, especially as more states legalize it.
This increased revenue from gambling has shown positives for governments as they have been able to tax it (over $3 billion has been made in tax revenue since 2018) and utilize Americans’ love of betting to build and improve the nation at local and national levels. It’s important however to be aware of the risks of gambling and never gamble if you can’t afford to lose the money.”
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
