How to get a gambling licence in Arizona: by tender

The Arizona Department of Gaming regulates event wagering and fantasy sports contests and issues every licence in those regimes. Other bodies handle other products: the Division of Racing, which sits inside the Department, for horse racing, and the state lottery commission for the lottery.

• The Department is a state agency whose director is appointed by the Governor. The Legislature continued it to 1 July 2032 (Laws 2026, ch. 239). Its licensing decisions follow its own background investigation; there is no separate supervising body.
• There is no separate advertising regulator and no separate state anti-money-laundering supervisor for event wagering. The Department enforces the advertising rules in R19-4-110 and R19-4-206 and supervises anti-money-laundering controls itself.
• One event wagering operator licence covers wagering on all the sports events and other events the Department approves, including esports. For a team, venue or promoter licensee it covers retail and mobile wagering; a tribal operator's licence covers mobile wagering only. A person may hold only one event wagering operator licence.
• Event wagering conducted exclusively on Indian lands by a tribe under its compact needs no Department licence. An operator may not accept a wager from a bettor who is physically on Indian lands.
• As of 24 October 2026 the Department's register lists 15 event wagering operators, of which two are marked as ceased and one as not yet launched, so 12 were operating.

Laws that apply

• A.R.S. Title 5, chapter 11 (5-1301 to 5-1321), Event Wagering
• A.R.S. Title 5, chapter 10 (5-1201 to 5-1213), Fantasy Sports Contests
• 19 A.A.C. Chapter 4: Article 1 (event wagering, R19-4-101 to R19-4-153) and Article 2 (fantasy sports, R19-4-201 to R19-4-229)
• A.R.S. Title 13, chapter 33 (gambling offences and the exclusions for regulated, amusement and social gambling)
• A.R.S. Title 5, chapter 6 (tribal-state compacts) and the amended Tribal-State Gaming Compact of 2021
• Laws 2026, chapters 127 and 239 (amendments to 5-1318 and the continuation of the Department of Gaming)

Chapter 11 licenses four operator-side classes and three supplier-side classes. The operator licences are the scarce ones: they are capped and go only to defined groups, so the open doors for most companies are the designee, management services provider and supplier licences.

• Caps: up to ten operator licences for tribes and up to ten for the sports group, twenty in all; up to ten limited event wagering licences; no cap on fantasy sports operator licences and none stated for suppliers, ancillary suppliers or management services providers.
• When more qualified applicants apply than licences remain, the Department allocates by weighted criteria (R19-4-106) and must give all qualified applicants an equal opportunity. Two licences were allocated on 2 August 2024 and one took effect on 27 July 2026.
• A licence must be used within 180 days of issue or it reverts to the Department. A team, venue or promoter licence covers retail wagering within five blocks of the sports facility and mobile wagering statewide.
• An operator has one event wagering system and one platform, a second platform only with the Department's written approval, and never more than two. It shows its own brand or an affiliate's brand on each platform.
• Fantasy sports contests need their own licence because event wagering excludes them. A private contest limited to 15 players and $10,000 in entry fees a year, not offered to the general public, is exempt.

No Arizona entity, office, bank account or resident director is required by the statute, and suppliers and management services providers have no residence test. What decides an application is who the applicant is and whether it proves suitability by clear and convincing evidence.

• An operator licence in its own right needs a qualifying team owner, PGA-tour venue operator, NASCAR promoter or tribe. A foreign company, including an EU or EEA company, can hold the operator licence as a designee under contract to one of them, or apply as a supplier or management services provider.
• In choosing among applicants for scarce licences the Department gives a preference to applicants located, headquartered or operating a physical facility in the State, or that use or partner with such a designee or provider.
• There is no minimum share capital. The financial test is a presumption of stability: the ability to keep a bankroll to pay winning wagers when due, to meet operating expenses and to pay state and federal taxes. Separately, an operator holds a reserve of at least $500,000.
• The application identifies owners of more than five percent, partners, board members and officers, and any holding company with its principals. Officers, directors, members and partners give fingerprints for a state and federal criminal records check. Changes of principals are filed within 30 days.
• Each applicant submits to Arizona jurisdiction. Applicants that have operated elsewhere supply letters of compliance from their other regulators.
• A person who is, or whose immediate family member is, an employee of the Department, an employee of a professional sports team, a coach or player of a collegiate, professional or Olympic team, or someone able to directly affect the outcome of an event on which wagers are allowed may not apply for or obtain a licence, nor may a person convicted of a crime related to sports or event wagering, cheating, extortion, burglary, larceny, bribery, embezzlement, robbery, racketeering, money laundering, forgery or fraud.
• The Department may deny, revoke or suspend a licence on the 13 grounds of 5-1306(A), including breaking the Act or rules, obtaining a licence by fraud or misrepresentation, a gaming, physical-harm or moral-turpitude conviction, a US gaming licence revoked or denied, and failing to supply requested information within seven days.
• The Department may accept a licence from another jurisdiction with similar requirements as evidence that a supplier or management services provider qualifies, and another jurisdiction's equipment approval as evidence of equipment standards. The applicant still applies and pays.

Applications go through ADG Connect, the Department's online licensing portal. The statute gives the Department 60 days to decide a complete application, and the Department says most investigations finish within 30 days.

• The route starts with a preliminary application in ADG Connect for the licence type. The Department reviews it and assigns the business and individual applications to complete, and fees are paid in ADG Connect. Fingerprint cards are mailed. An older inquiry letter is still linked on the Department's pages, but the current instructions do not require it.
• For an event wagering operator the application states the owners, officers and lenders, civil judgments, letters of compliance from other regulators, financial background (bank references, tax returns and written authority to examine bank accounts), business ability and gaming experience, the adjusted gross event wagering receipts it expects to generate, and the fee. A detailed credit report goes with each individual disclosure form, and unaudited statements are accepted for three years where audited ones do not exist.
• No document called a business plan is required by name. Expected revenue stands in for financial projections, and an operator may use comparable gross gaming revenue from other jurisdictions. For scarce licences the Department weighs criteria that include vision, local investment, player-protection culture and the ability to begin operating within six months.
• Operator and limited licences have an application window: when a licence becomes available the Department announces a period of at least ten days, then has 10 days to rule on qualification and 10 more to allocate. In 2026 the window ran from 26 June to 10 July. Supplier, management services provider, employee and fantasy sports applications have no window.
• The Department issues the licence not later than 60 days after a complete application unless the investigation finds a criminal history or other disqualifying grounds. It may ask for more information at any time, and may recover investigation costs above the fee.
• A temporary supplier or employee licence is issued within five days of a complete application, and is deemed approved if the Department is silent. It becomes void when the full licence issues or a notice of denial is sent.
• A limited event wagering operator adds a copy of its Division of Racing approval, a letter from its event wagering operator partner, and an attestation and map showing that its facility is at least five miles from a tribal gaming facility and from the event wagering locations of other operators and limited operators.
• An applicant is entitled to a full hearing on a final action that may result in denial, revocation or suspension, requested within 30 days after notice. Judicial review follows within 35 days of service of the decision.

The fixed fees are in the cost snapshot and the table below. Beyond them the operator holds a reserve and carries insurance, and the Department can charge investigation costs above the fee.

• The $100,000 application fee for an operator or designee is non-refundable and is credited to the $750,000 initial licence fee, so $650,000 is due on approval. The annual fee is due within 12 months of the licence date and annually after that.
• There is no fee per additional product, domain or brand. A second event wagering operator licence is not available to the same person.
• Each operator maintains a reserve of the greater of $500,000 or the amount needed to cover all outstanding event wagering liability and the funds held for player accounts. It may be cash, cash equivalents, payment-processor reserves or receivables, an irrevocable letter of credit, a bond or a mix, and it is the operator's own asset, not a deposit paid to the State.
• Operators carry commercial general liability insurance of at least $5,000,000 per occurrence and in the aggregate. The Department may require a bond to cover its investigation costs.
• The Department sets no amounts for laboratory testing, the integrity and security assessment or the annual independent audit; the operator procures them. An annual independent CPA audit is the one item the rules put expressly at the operator's expense.
• There is no minimum annual privilege fee and no mandatory charitable or social contribution. Operators must give players the statewide helpline details and maintain a problem gambling programme.
• On ceasing operations an operator gives the Department 180 days' notice and a written plan to settle outstanding liabilities and refund player account funds.

Arizona charges a privilege fee for the right to operate event wagering and fantasy sports contests. It is a monthly fee on revenue, set by the Department by rule under a ten percent statutory ceiling and paid into the event wagering fund.

• Adjusted gross event wagering receipts are gross wagering receipts, excluding voided bets, minus winnings paid and any federal excise tax, less a deduction for free bets and promotional credits redeemed. That deduction is limited to the first five years: up to 20% of gross wagering receipts in years one and two, 15% in year three, 10% in years four and five and none from year six. For an operator that began in 2021 it is up to 10% in 2025 and 2026 and none from 2027.
• The fee is due by the 25th of the month after the receipts accrued, and operators report adjusted gross receipts by the same date. After the annual audit an overpayment is credited to the next payment and an underpayment is paid within 30 days. A fantasy operator that fails to remit owes 5% a month, up to 25%.
• By the 25th of each month 90% of the previous month's deposits in the event wagering fund is transferred to the state general fund. ADG may spend up to ten percent of the fund on regulating event wagering and fantasy sports.
• No law sets a higher fee as of 6 November 2026; the budget law of 13 June 2026 keeps the ten percent ceiling in 5-1318(A).
• Corporate income tax is 4.9% of net income for taxable years beginning after 31 December 2016. There is no value added tax in Arizona; the transaction privilege tax names neither wagering stakes nor fees. No advertising or sponsorship tax on gambling was found.
• Players: Arizona taxes gambling winnings at a flat 2.5% for taxable years 2024 and 2025 and withholds on winnings subject to federal withholding. Federally the payer withholds 24% where winnings less the wager exceed $5,000, and files Form W-2G.

Arizona licenses no game provider as such, because it licenses sports and other event wagering only. A platform or software business is a supplier or a management services provider, and everything else that serves an operator is an ancillary supplier.

• A person that manufactures, distributes or supplies event wagering equipment or software, including systems, needs a supplier licence. A person that operates the platform, odds, lines and risk management for an operator needs a management services provider licence before the contract is signed. A designee that does this itself needs no separate licence.
• Hosting and data centres, payment processors, identity verification and geofence providers, integrity monitoring providers, league data providers, test laboratories and commission-paid marketing affiliates are ancillary suppliers and need the ancillary supplier licence.
• A licensed supplier gives the Department a list of all event wagering equipment and services it offers an operator in the State, all tested and approved by an independent laboratory the Department approves. The Department's pages name no approved laboratory. Operators send the Department a quarterly list of their suppliers.
• Event wagering systems must meet the Gaming Laboratories International standard GLI-33, version 1.1 of 14 May 2019, without later amendments. An independent laboratory tests the system, including an initial geofence test, before use; the operator gives the Department at least 10 days' written notice before go-live, and the Department then tests it. Recertification is at least every 15 months.
• Wagers may be accepted only on servers located in Arizona, and the operator tells the Department where each is. With the Department's written approval, cloud storage may hold duplicate transactional wagering data and data not related to transactional wagering. No local domain is required.
• A geofence must check a patron's location before each wager and repeatedly through the session; a patron outside Arizona is blocked and told, and attempts from unauthorised locations are logged. The geofence provider gives the Department real-time access to its data.
• Licensees report to the Department in real time and at account level the bettor, amount and type of bet, time, location including the IP address, and outcome. The system self-authenticates its critical components on installation and every 24 hours.
• An independent integrity and security assessment (vulnerability scan, penetration test, ISO 27001 policy review, firewall review) is due within 120 days after operations start and annually, with the report to the Department within 30 days.
• High-impact changes, such as a new wagering feature or a change to geolocation or personal data handling, need the Department's written approval; the Department answers within five days. Low-impact changes need prior notice. A second platform needs approval within 30 days.
• Books, records and data are kept for at least five years. There is no return-to-player rule and no state cap on stakes or winnings; the operator's approved house rules set minimum and maximum wager amounts.

The minimum age is 21. Age and identity are verified before an account places a wager, and one statewide self-exclusion list binds every licensed sportsbook.

• The player account file holds the legal name, date of birth, the last four digits of the Social Security number or an equivalent identification number, account number or username, residential address, email address, the verification method and its date, and acknowledgement of the terms. There is one account per person.
• Permitted payment methods are cash, cash equivalents, electronic funds transfer, credit and debit cards, cheques, wire transfers, winnings and promotional credit; other forms need written approval, and cryptocurrency is not on the list. An operator may not extend credit to a bettor. Retail operators may not accept Temporary Assistance for Needy Families electronic benefit transfer cards.
• After verification a withdrawal request must be honoured within seven days; the operator may decline only where it believes the patron engaged in fraud or conduct that would breach the law, and must tell the patron and the Department. Player funds sit in bank accounts separate from other corporate accounts.
• The Department compiles a statewide self-exclusion list and gives it to operators weekly. The operator checks the latest list before creating an account, revokes accounts of listed persons, removes them from mailing lists, and reports any participation to the Department within 24 hours. The player chooses one, five or ten years, and the exclusion cannot be rescinded during that period. A prize won by an excluded person is forfeited and donated to the Department's Division of Problem Gambling.
• Deposit limits, loss or session limits, reality checks and cooling-off periods are not required. An operator must have procedures to mitigate problem gambling, a problem gambling programme, and a responsible gaming training programme in its internal controls.
• Each platform must show obvious help messaging with the statewide helpline telephone number, text message and website: 1-800-NEXT-STEP, or text NEXTSTEP to 53342. Retail areas post English and Spanish signs at public entrances and exits.
• The licence notice must be displayed on the platform's landing page. The platform shows the name, brand or logo of the operator or its affiliate; changes go to the Department before use. No rule requires a licence number or a Department logo.
• An operator must tell a patron of the right to file a written complaint, and answer in writing within 10 days; an unresolved dispute goes to the Department, which may investigate and decide with corrective action.

Advertising by licensees is allowed and regulated by the Department itself. No individual advertisement is approved in advance, and the operator's internal controls must set procedures for responsible advertising.

• Every event wagering advertisement, on television, radio, the internet, in print and on billboards, must include a responsible gaming message with the statewide toll-free helpline.
• Advertising may not target, or specifically appeal to, people under 21, may not be misleading or false, and may not promote irresponsible or excessive participation or suggest that success is guaranteed. It may not occur at event venues where most of the audience at most events is reasonably expected to be under 21.
• Event wagering may not be promoted or advertised in college or university-owned news assets, including digital ones, or on campuses, except generally available television, radio and digital advertising. Event wagering marks may not appear on clothing, toys, games or game equipment intended primarily for people under 21.
• No ban, time limit or audience-percentage test applies to television, radio, outdoor or online advertising, and no rule bans sports sponsorship or logos at adult venues. Wagers on individual actions in collegiate events are barred.
• Promotions and bonuses are notified to the Department in writing before they start and run on clear rules: dates, rules of play, prizes, eligibility, wagering and redemption requirements, eligible events and cancellation. Anything described as free must disclose its material terms, and a promotion may not restrict a patron from withdrawing their own funds. No rule caps wagering requirements.
• Marketing affiliates paid by commission are licensed ancillary suppliers and are themselves bound by the ban on targeting minors. Self-excluded persons must be removed from all mailing lists, and no licensee may accept a wager from one.

Operators file monthly revenue reports, commission an annual independent audit, report incidents within 72 hours and need the Department's approval for changes to the system, the platform and the internal controls.

• A licence cannot be transferred without the Department's prior approval. Each new principal files a complete application within 30 days of appointment, and the licence stays valid unless the Department denies it.
• Abnormal betting patterns and suspicious or illegal wagering, including wagers to launder money, are reported immediately to the Department and to any sports governing body that has asked. Operators use a licensed integrity monitoring provider.
• AML: the internal control system must include Bank Secrecy Act procedures and procedures to identify and report suspicious wagering, and operators verify identity before wagering. No money laundering reporting officer is required.
• The Department may fine or otherwise sanction a licensee and place conditions on a licence; neither the Act nor the rules set a fine scale. Fantasy sports violations carry a civil penalty of up to $10,000. The Department may revoke, suspend or deny a licence, and summarily suspend one that is an immediate threat to public health, safety or welfare.
• No statute read gives the Department a power to block a site, domain or app. Its tools against unlicensed operators are cease-and-desist letters, charges by the Attorney General and seizure of money and devices used in unlawful gambling. Promotion of gambling is a class 5 felony.

The route most entrants take: a designee under contract to a qualifying team owner, venue operator, promoter or tribe, with an operator licence of its own. The limited operator, fantasy sports and supplier routes follow below.

1. 01

   Choose your route

   A.R.S. 5-1304 · 5-1308 · 5-1309

   Decide whether you will hold the operator licence as a designee, run a sportsbook as a management services provider for a licensed operator, or supply the market as a supplier or ancillary supplier. A person that operates the platform and odds for an operator must hold the management services provider licence before the contract is signed.

2. 02

   Secure the qualifying partner

   A.R.S. 5-1301(7) · 5-1304(A)

   Contract with an Arizona professional sports team owner, a PGA-tour venue operator, a NASCAR promoter or a tribe that signed the latest compact. Keep a copy of the agreement for the application.

3. 03

   Confirm suitability

   A.R.S. 5-1304(B) · 5-1311(A)

   Check that no owner, officer or director has a disqualifying conviction or falls in a barred category, and list every owner of more than five percent, board member, officer, lender and holding company.

4. 04

   File the preliminary application

   ADG Connect · R19-4-105

   Register in ADG Connect and file the preliminary application for the licence type. The Department assigns the business and individual applications. Mail the fingerprint cards, and pay the $100,000 application fee, which is credited to the initial licence fee.

5. 05

   Wait for allocation and the decision

   A.R.S. 5-1305(C) · R19-4-106

   Where licences remain, the Department decides within 60 days of a complete application. Where they are scarce it announces a window of at least ten days and allocates by weighted criteria. Pay the $650,000 balance of the $750,000 initial licence fee on approval.

6. 06

   Certify the platform and set up controls

   R19-4-111 to R19-4-120

   Have the system tested against GLI-33 version 1.1 by an independent laboratory, with servers in Arizona and a geofence. Get the internal control system and house rules approved, fund the reserve of at least $500,000, take out insurance of at least $5,000,000, and give the Department at least 10 days' written notice before go-live.

7. 07

   Go live and keep filing

   A.R.S. 5-1318 · 5-1319

   Start within 180 days of issue. Pay the privilege fee and report revenue by the 25th of each month, pay the $150,000 annual fee, commission the annual CPA audit and renew the licence before its five-year term ends.

For a racetrack or off-track location, under a licence from the Department and an approval from the Division of Racing. As of 24 October 2026 the register lists nine limited locations, all marked as not yet launched.

1. 01

   Hold the racing approval

   A.R.S. 5-1307

   Hold the Division of Racing approval to conduct racing meetings or as an additional wagering facility, and have a letter from your event wagering operator partner.

2. 02

   Show the five-mile separation

   A.R.S. 5-1307(B)(3)

   Give an attestation and a map showing that the facility is at least five miles from a tribal gaming facility, from the event wagering location of an operator and from the location of another limited operator.

3. 03

   Apply and pay

   R19-4-105

   File through ADG Connect with a $1,000 application fee, then pay the $10,000 initial licence fee. The licence runs two years with a $5,000 annual fee. Up to ten licences may be issued.

A separate licence from the Department under A.R.S. 5-1202, with no cap on the number issued.

1. 01

   Confirm the contest needs a licence

   A.R.S. 5-1202

   Private contests limited to 15 players, not offered to the general public and with no more than $10,000 in entry fees a year, 95% of it awarded, are exempt. A tribe running class III gaming may run contests within its Indian lands without a licence.

2. 02

   Apply and pay the fee

   R19-4-205

   Apply to the Department with the $2,000 initial licence fee. The licence runs two years and renews at $1,000. Each owner of 10% or more is disclosed.

3. 03

   Meet the platform duties

   A.R.S. 5-1205 · R19-4-216

   Prohibit under-21s, verify age and identity before the account buys entries, keep a self-exclusion check, and segregate player deposits or hold a reserve above them. Withdrawals are honoured within seven days.

4. 04

   Pay the 5% fee

   R19-4-208 · A.R.S. 5-1211

   Pay 5% of adjusted revenues by the 25th of each month, under a ten percent ceiling. File the annual audit and compliance audit.

For platform, odds, data, geolocation, payment, hosting and marketing businesses that serve Arizona operators. All apply through ADG Connect.

1. 01

   Pick the class

   A.R.S. 5-1308 · 5-1309 · R19-4-101

   Equipment and software sellers hold the supplier licence, businesses that run the sportsbook hold the management services provider licence, and the other roles hold the ancillary supplier licence.

2. 02

   Apply and pay

   R19-4-105

   File the preliminary application. A supplier or ancillary supplier pays $1,500 with no separate application fee; a management services provider pays $1,000 to apply and $10,000 for the licence. The Department issues a temporary supplier licence within five days of a complete application.

3. 03

   List and test every product

   A.R.S. 5-1308(E)

   Give the Department the list of all equipment and services you offer an operator in the State. All of it must be tested and approved by an independent laboratory the Department approves.

4. 04

   Renew every two years

   A.R.S. 5-1308(D)

   A supplier renews every two years at $500, filed at least 30 days before expiry. A management services provider pays $5,000 a year. A licence from another jurisdiction with similar requirements counts as evidence, not an exemption.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 7 Nov 2026.