Finally, online and retail sports betting is legal in the Grand Canyon State. On April 12, 2021, the Arizona State Senate passed a bill, HB 2772, thereby allowing wagering on sports in this state. Arizona Sports Betting is live!
Since its launch, the Arizona sports wagering industry has garnered more than $22 million in revenues. Moreover, the sports handle figure is $279 million, which is impressive and might encourage you to start betting. However, these figures are for the period September 2021 to February 2022.
While basketball, hockey, and baseball sway the local industry, you can also look at lesser-known sports and land some successful bets. These sports range from Cricket to Darts, and Cycling. This guide will introduce you to the less popular sports in Arizona, and after reading it, you will understand how to wager on these sports. Please note that the Arizona Department of Gaming has approved all these games.
Badminton Betting in Arizona
This sport is like tennis, the only difference being that badminton courts are smaller. Moreover, badminton is a popular sport in the UK, Denmark, India, China, and several Southeastern Asian nations.
Badminton is a fast-paced sport played between two players or teams comprising two players. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their rackets to land within the permitted lines on the opponent’s side of the court.
Every badminton match has three games, each with a maximum of 21 points. The player who reaches these 21 points first wins the game. In the sport of badminton, the England Open and the Thomas Cup are the most popular international badminton events.
Arizona has several local badminton clubs and teams. These are:
- Northern Arizona University Badminton Club, Flagstaff, AZ.
- Arizona Badminton Club, Glendale.
- Phoenix Badminton Center, Phoenix.
- Tucson Badminton Center, Tucson.
In badminton, players usually place two kinds of bets – match-winner and correct score.
Wondering which Arizona betting sites are good for badminton? Here are a few for your consideration:
- Ballybet
- Barstool
- BetRivers
- Caesars
Cricket Betting in Arizona
This sport isn’t hugely popular in the US, but this hasn’t stopped many cricket clubs from popping up all over the state. Cricket is played in India, Australia, Pakistan, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and South Africa. Lately, cricket has begun attracting attention in the United States, Western Europe, and a few other countries.
Arizona has several cricket-playing clubs:
- The Arizona Cricket Association.
- The Arizona Premier League.
- Falcons Cricket Club.
- Phoenix Cricket Club
Cricket betting options
There are several ways to bet on cricket. Some of these are:
Match betting
This is the most popular form of betting in cricket. When placing a bet, gamblers can choose from these three options:
- Home team will win.
- Away team will win.
- There will be a tie.
Completed bet
You make this bet on whether a match will finish in a given period. Usually, completed bets are made on test matches, which run for five days.
Tied match
This bet is placed on the possibility that a particular match will end in a draw.
Gamblers can place other bets, such as:
Innings runs
A bowler who gets the highest number of wickets
Top batsman
Tournament outright winner and Man of the Series.
Cricket betting sites in Arizona
You can visit the following sites for cricket betting in AZ:
Betting on darts
Wagering on darts has become increasingly popular over the years, and there are many dart tournaments throughout the year. However, unlike many traditional pub games, this game has become big enough to be regulated by government bodies.
Since darts originated in Britain, most game rules have come from the British Dart Organization. However, local rules apply in case of any confusion.
Game rules
Darts is a simple game played on “clocks” or “trebles.” Every board has a circle with several segments numbered 1 to 20. The numbers are not consecutive but are in the same place on all dart boards.
Every dart board has a black ring in the center, called “bull’s eye,” and is surrounded by the “25 rings”. The bullseye is red, while the 25 circle is green. Twenty (20) random rings spread from this ring, which is further broken up by a “treble” ring and a “double” ring. Please note that the treble is in the middle of the circle, while the double is on the outside of the circle.
So, if a dart lands in 14, and in “treble,” he scores Treble 14. Every player gets three darts to throw at the board, and most professional dart games are “501 up”. This means every player starts with a default score of 501.
Additionally, If the dart hits the bullseye, the player scores 50, while any hit on the outer ring is worth 25. Note that if it lands in the treble, it would be three times the segment’s value. A player must score zero to win while landing his last dart on the bullseye or the double.
So how does dart-betting work?
Many bettors like to place bets on outright winners. For example, you might want to wager on Michael Gerwen to win the World Championships at odds of -200.
There are other dart-betting markets like the Quarter Winner, where you are wagering on a player winning a particular round.
Many players prefer match markets, where they bet on a player winning a particular event. You can also go in for a multiple bet, which ties several players in an accumulator bet. However, in this bet, all players must win their matches to make a profit.
Bettors can also go in for Set Betting. A good example is that you are betting on local lad Chuck Puleo beating Van der Bergh of Belgium 3-0 in the World Championships.
Which Arizona sites allow dart-betting
Though it doesn’t figure among the top three in the US, many Arizona sites offer dart-betting. Some of these are:
- Betfred Sports
- Unibet
- Caesars
- Fubo
- BetRivers
- FanDuel
All these platforms offer several betting options, and some even have live betting platforms.
Chess
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to put Chess on the professional betting menu. Then, in March 2020, William Hill began taking wagers on the FIDE tournament. Since then, there has been no looking back for betting on Chess.
Unlike other sports, there are limited betting opportunities in Chess. However, don’t let this put you off because chess-betting can be great fun.
Outright winner
Here you are placing bets on who will win the tournament outright. For example, you could bet on Daniel Rensch winning one of the many Arizona chess tournaments run by Arizona Chess Central.
Match winner
Every chess game can have three outcomes – Win, Lose or Draw. Therefore, you can bet on any of these possibilities and make a profit.
Field Hockey
Another less-popular sport you can wager on is Field Hockey. A fast-paced sport, Field Hockey is hugely popular in West Europe, Asia, Argentina, and South Africa.
This game is played between two sides, each aiming to score as many goals and eventually win the game. A field hockey game can vary in duration from 50 minutes to 70 minutes, depending on the level of play. If there is no result in the main game, it stretches into extra time.
A penalty shootout ensues if there is no result in the extra time.
Field hockey betting
You can place several bets on this sport.
Moneyline bets
This is the most favored betting market when it comes to field hockey. This means you are betting that Phoenix Scorpions will win against the University of Arizona in the Spring Season. For example, if the money line has Phoenix at -110 and UoA at +110, the former is the favored team, and you must wager $110 to win $100. On the other hand, if you bet $100 on Arizona, you will win $110 if they pull off a win.
Totals
Here, you are betting on the total of goals scored by both teams in a match. In this case, the bookmaker sets the totals (between 3 and 6). For example, if the total is 5.5, and you are betting over this number, you are confident the total goals would be six or more.
An under would mean both teams would score five or fewer goals.
Futures
Do you think the UoA would win the 2023 season? You could place a futures bet right now! For example, if the odds are +900, and you bet $100, you will win $900 if UoA were to win this tournament.
Cycling
This sport is growing in popularity steadily. People enjoy watching the various cycling events and keeping tabs on what’s happening in this sport.
Even if you aren’t a cycling freak, you can still place various bets on this sport.
Ridership betting
Many punters prefer ridership betting to others. As a result, there are many versions of this form of cycle betting.
- Winner
- Top 3 riders
This is a difficult bet because there are more than 150 riders in any given cycling event.
- Top 10 riders
- Green jersey
The winners of premier cycling events, such as the Tour de France, get yellow jerseys upon winning the event. On the other hand, winners of subsidiary events win a green jersey.
- King of the Mountains
This title goes to the cyclist who masters the mountains.
- Young Rider Classification
Place bets on cyclists under 23 (25 in some cases) who will win the maximum points.
Team betting
Many local and global cycling events are team-based, and every team has members who bring their unique capabilities to the table.
This means you can bet on the best team in a tournament, such as the Tour de France. Some betting sites also allow you to wager on teams finishing second or a team performing in a particular stage of that event.
Race stats betting
You can also bet on the stats in a given cycling event. For example, the Vuelta a Espana has more than 200 participants, and not everyone can complete this race. Some will drop out because of injuries, and others due to exhaustion. Therefore, you can bet on the number of finishers in this tournament.
Another type of wager is whether a record will be broken. For example, if you think a new record will be broken in the Giro d’ Italia, some bookmakers will allow you to make this bet.
Other cycling bet types
Aside from the above bet formats, you can also place other bet types. These include the following.
- Will there be a crash today at any stage of the Tour de France?
- Is Remeco Evenepoel going to win the Young Rider Classification by 2023?
- Will a rider from Arizona win the Giro d’ Italia?
- Who will win both the stages of the El Tour de Tucson?
Basketball, baseball, and football betting in Arizona
This state has a rich legacy of basketball. The Phoenix Suns, founded in 1968, are an Arizona-based professional basketball team playing in the NBA’s Pacific Division.
Besides Phoenix, Arizona has several local basketball clubs. These are:
- Arizona Elite Girls Basketball Club.
- Phoenix Youth Basketball Club, and others.
Coming to football, Arizona is one of the few states to allow in-stadium betting. BetMGM has partnered with Arizona Cardinals, who might open a retail sportsbook in State Farm Stadium prior to the NFL 2022 season. This should grow the football betting market in Arizona significantly.
Arizona Cardinals sports betting promo codes are specially designed for all Cardinal fans!
Baseball bettors can use one of the five betting sites below to wager on this sport.
- BetMGM
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- PointsBet
- William Hill (Caesar)
How to bet on your favorite sports in Arizona
Placing a bet isn’t a difficult thing to do as it involves so many easy steps. As a local sports fan in Arizona, below are the steps required to bet on your best sport.
- Identify a legal sports betting site in Arizona.
- Check whether this platform has a mobile site or casino.
- Read various online reviews about this betting platform.
- Sign up by entering your name, email address, and other details.
- Connect your bank account or credit card with this account.
- Make your first deposit.
- Claim any Arizona sports betting promos & bonuses or free bets you might have received from the Arizona Sportsbook.
- Start placing bets on your chosen sport.
Conclusion
Arizona’s sports betting handle figure has grown nearly 10x from September 2021 to February 2022.
Arizona residents can place bets on several popular and not-so-well-known sports like cricket, darts, field hockey, badminton, Chess, and cycling. Moreover, The Arizona Department of Gaming has approved all of them.
Cricket and badminton betting activity might go up in the future. This is because a significant proportion of Asians live and work in Arizona and the rest of the US. You can bet on the above-mentioned sports on several local betting websites. Nevertheless, it is important to mention here that these sites offer American odds and multiple sports betting options to their customers.
