Iowans spent $300 million more on sports bets in the last seven months than in the previous fiscal year

Des Moines, Iowa – According to state officials, the total amount spent on sports bets in Iowa over the last seven months has already topped the entire amount spent on sports bets during the previous 12 months.

In the period from July 2020 to June 2021, Iowans wagered a total of around $1.2 billion dollars. Meanwhile, throughout the period from July 2021 to January 2022, Iowans spent $1.5 billion.

An official for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, Brian Ohorilko, stated that part of the rise is due to Iowans no longer being required to register in person in order to play online gambling games. Companies have also been competing aggressively to get people to sign up for their applications, offering additional discounts to new users.

Iowans, according to Ohorilko, are prepared to place further wagers before things begin to slow.

“Things have really taken off during football season—sports betting is very seasonal activity. It’s reasonable to expect that we’ll continue to see strong numbers in February and then as we head into March Madness… before things are really slow down into the summer,” Ohorilko said.

According to Ohorilko, the effect of sports betting on casinos is still a drop in the bucket when compared to their overall portfolios. Casinos around the country are reporting their best-ever year in terms of winnings in 2021.

The state gets a share of the money made from sports betting in the form of taxes, and these taxes are expected to be higher than last year’s.

Ohorilko said there were no formal projections for how well sports betting would perform in the state, but the jump from 2020 to 2021 was unexpected.