Sportsbooks across Nevada in December absorbed their worst beating of any post-PASPA month not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, registering just a 1.58% hold while reaching $1 billion in handle for the third straight month.
The previous lowest monthly win rate for sports betting recorded in the Silver State outside the pandemic was 1.66% in July 2018, the second full month of wagering in the post-PASPA era. In March of 2020, Nevada sportsbooks had a 1.03% hold as the sports world was grinding to a halt, and the only negative win rate came in June 2020 at -0.62% as sports were slowly coming back on line.
Overall, sportsbooks registered just shy of $16 million in December revenue, the lowest total unaffected by the pandemic since collecting just $10.5 million in July 2019. The handle that month was $235.7 million, less than one-quarter December’s $1.01 billion. The latter figure is also the seventh-highest handle nationally in the post-PASPA era.
While handle dropped only 6.9% versus November, revenue plummeted 77.8% as the win rate plunged more than five percentage points. In comparing numbers to December 2020, handle was 77.6% higher while revenue was 60.7% lower, with the win rate also more than five percentage points lower than the December 2021 hold.
Taking the pandemic into account, the year-over-year numbers for Nevada sportsbooks were positive. Annual handle climbed 90.1% to more than $8.1 billion for 2021 as Nevada joined New Jersey as the only states to surpass $20 billion in post-PASPA handle. Revenue surged 71.1% to $445.1 million for the year, which was also 35.3% higher than the $329 million generated in 2019.
The statewide win rate of 5.5% for 2021 was six-tenths of a percentage point lower compared to 2020 and nearly three-quarters of a percentage point lower versus 2019. The $30 million in tax receipts was a yearly high in the post-PASPA era, representing more than one-third of the $82.9 million collected since June 2018.
Bettors post the rarest of wins — at the parlay game
Top 10 #SportsBetting Handle by state, 2021 YTD (Dec in CAPS):
1 #NEWJERSEY: $10.936B
2 #NEVADA: $8.143B
3 #PENNSYLVANIA: $6.552B
4 #Illinois: $6.232B
5 #MICHIGAN: $3.966B
6 #INDIANA: $3.829B
7 #Colorado: $3.386B
8 #Virginia: $2.795B
9 #TENNESSEE: $2.73B
10 #IOWA: $2.041B— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 27, 2022
Operators posted $16.9 million in revenue from football wagering, though they had just a 3.6% hold on the $477.1 million wagered. Bettors clawed back money in multiple categories, however, showing stunning savvy in parlay wagering in December. The house paid out nearly $7.5 million in winnings on slightly less than $5.6 million wagered for a staggering -34.1% win rate.
It was just the second time the house lost on parlay wagering outside the pandemic. The books lost $15,000 on more than $2.7 million wagered in January 2019. But that was not the only area in which bettors walked away with fatter pockets. They eked out a small win on hockey wagers, collecting $606,000 more than the $66.6 million wagered, and also profited by $57,000 on the $57 million bet in the catch-all “other” category.
Books were also paying out winning baseball tickets while taking few bets on futures. They paid out nearly $1.3 million while accepting less than $10,000 in bets as a potential MLB lockout looms.
Operators also saw a strong challenge from the public in basketball wagering and posted just a 0.7% hold on $408.7 million wagered, to collect nearly $2.9 million.
The NFL’s full embrace of legalized wagering helped fuel a 41.9% year-over-year rise in overall football betting handle to more than $2.7 billion in 2021, while revenue climbed 19.5% to $153.8 million as the win rate tumbled more than one full percentage point.
Baseball wagering more than tripled, which was to be expected after a COVID-shortened season in 2020, but the over $1.4 billion bet was also 27.9% higher than the $1.1 billion from 2019. Basketball handle more than doubled from 2020, reaching nearly $2.7 billion, while hockey handle jumped from $148 million in 2020 to $446 million for 2021.
The mobile phenomenon continues
Top 10 all-time monthly #SportsBetting handles:
1 New Jersey (10/21): $1.3B
2 NJ (11/21): $1.26B
3 NJ (12/21): $1.23B
4 Nevada (10/21): $1.1B
5 NV (11/21): $1.09B
6 NJ (9/21): $1.011B
7 NEVADA (12/21): $1.01B
8 NJ (12/20): $996.3M
9 NJ (1/21): $958.7M
10 NJ (11/20): $931.6M— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) January 27, 2022
In the two full years the NGCB has broken out mobile figures, the win rate has failed to meet the industry standard of 7% in any single month. That continued in December as the pain was not restricted to the retail side — online operators finished just $2.6 million ahead on $765 million wagered in December, resulting in a 0.3% hold.
The overall mobile hold in 2021 was 3.7%, or more than one full percentage point lower than 2020. Mobile operator revenue totaled $194.3 million, which accounted for 43.6% of all revenue in 2021. That was a slight decline from the 44.1% in the first year of reported figures in 2020.
Nearly $5.3 billion, or 64.6%, of Nevada’s handle came from online and mobile wagering compared to the 56.5% in 2020. This is not a like-for-like comparison, however, as the state agency did not publicly disclose figures for April and May of 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
Photo: Shutterstock
