TwinSpires and Tonto Apache Tribe Team Up for Arizona Sports Betting License

• Friday, TwinSpires Announced Partnership with Arizona’s Tonto Apache Tribe
• This Becomes Ninth Sports Betting Partnership in Arizona  
• Target Date for Arizona’s Legal Sports Betting Launch Still September 9

Friday, TwinSpires Announced Partnership with AZ’s Tonto Apache Tribe

In a Friday press release, TwinSpires, the official online wagering site of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, announced its new partnership with the Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona, their mutual goal being to snag one of the twenty sports betting licenses that will soon be granted by the Grand Canyon State.

This would allow a TwinSpires sportsbook to open up inside the Mazatzal Hotel & Casino, which is owned and operated by the Tonto Apache Tribe in a location about an hour and a half northeast of the city of Phoenix.

In the press release, TwinSpires President Ian Williams said:

The team behind the most exciting two minutes in sports is thrilled to partner with the Tonto Apache Tribe and pursue offering our leading sportsbook product and promotions to sports fans throughout Arizona.

The initial licensing fee that they will pay is $850,000, which includes the $100,000 application fee, then they would be responsible for an 8% tax on retail wagers and a 10% tax on mobile wagers.

This Becomes Ninth Sports Betting Partnership in Arizona

So far, eight other similar partnerships have been formed in Arizona, making this the ninth.

Some of these include Caesars and the Arizona Diamondbacks, FanDuel and the Phoenix Suns, WynnBet and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, and a partnership we reported on last month in the article Historic Pairing Between Bally’s, Phoenix Mercury Begins.

These and other pairings now await as the Arizona Department of Gaming (ADG) decides on who will receive one of the 20 licenses it plans to issue soon, ten of which go to the state’s professional sports teams with the other ten going to the state’s gaming tribes.

Now it becomes up to the ADG to hit their target launch date in September.

Target Date for Arizona’s Legal Sports Betting Launch Still September 9

The U.S. Department of Interior approved the amended tribe compact that was submitted in May, and now the ADG has its eyes set on a September 9 launch date for legal sports gambling in the Copper State.

This would give Arizona bettors a chance to get in on the upcoming NFL action, with pro football set to start its eighteen-week 2021/2022 regular-season schedule on Thursday, September 9 with a matchup featuring the Dallas Cowboys and last year’s champs, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Ever since Governor Ducey signed an Arizona sports betting bill into law back in April, he has been looking forward to the increase in revenue and other benefits that this operation will bring to his state.

Gaming creates thousands of jobs for Arizonans, it generates tax revenue that benefits key areas of our communities, and it draws visitors to our state.

Given how many economic advantages legal sports betting will bring to Arizona, expect full cooperation from all the players involved to meet this time-crunching September goal.