Whether they be sharps or squares, the sports betting public continues to have the books’ number in Nevada.
The state’s Gaming Control Board reported that operators totaled just under $30.3 million in sports betting revenue for February as the public fared well against the house in events other than the Super Bowl.
The hold was a shade under 4%, which marked the first time in the post-PASPA era that Nevada books were held under a 5% win rate for three consecutive months — if not including those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The hold hit an all-time low of 1.6% in December and bounced back to 4.5% in the first month of 2022.
Handle for the shortest month of the year totaled $764.9 million, which was a decline of 31.2% from January’s record of $1.11 billion but also represented a 38.1% increase compared to February 2021. It was the sixth-highest monthly total seen in the Silver State, which had its run of billion-dollar handle months ended at four.
Month-over-month revenue dropped 39.4% with the hold being more than one-half point lower, while the year-over-year total was a 4.9% decline against a hold that was nearly 1.8 percentage points lower. The state claimed slightly more than $2 million in tax receipts for February, raising the total collected to more than $5.4 million in 2022. That is $265,882 less than in the first two months of 2021.
Books begin making Super Bowl payouts
Running Top 10 states for #SportsBetting handle in Feb. '22:
1 New York $1.53B
2 New Jersey $985.6M
3 NEVADA $764.9M <–NEW
4 Pennsylvania $597.1M
5 Michigan $423.8M
6 Indiana $409.1M
7 Tennessee $313.3M
8 Louisiana $238.4M
9 Iowa $215.9M
10 Connecticut $115.6M— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) March 30, 2022
The NGCB previously reported Super Bowl operator revenue of more than $15.4 million, but overall football revenue for the month totaled slightly more than $11.1 million as bettors began cashing winning tickets on the champion Los Angeles Rams. Overall handle for the sport was $181.9 million, a 36.1% improvement versus the $133.6 million wagered in February 2021.
Basketball took over as the primary driver of handle, accounting for nearly 60% of all action with $456.3 million placed. The house posted a 2.8% win rate, keeping more than $12.5 million. That was a 10.9% improvement on January’s haul of $11.3 million, as the win rate ticked one-half of a percentage point higher.
The $961.1 million wagered on basketball in the first two months of the year is 55.3% higher than the comparable time period from 2021, which augurs well for NCAA Tournament handle that was generated in March for the second-most popular sporting event in the United States.
Hockey represented the third-largest source of operator revenue in February at just over $4 million, the second-highest total reported by the NGCB since it began breaking out numbers for the sport in 2020. The all-time high was close to $5.1 million in September 2020, but the handle that month was $25 million — less than half the $59.5 million wagered in February.
The catch-all “other” category, which includes golf and soccer, generated nearly $3.4 million in revenue from $81.8 million worth of bets. The $153.1 million wagered in the category in the first two months of the year is running 68.3% ahead of last year’s pace when nearly $91 million was bet.
The public continues to enjoy success via mobile betting
Top 10 #SportsBetting Handle by state since May 2018 (Feb in CAPS):
1 NEW JERSEY: $25.12B
2 NEVADA: $22.64B <— NEW
3 PENNSYLVANIA: $13.03B
4 Illinois: $9.77B
5 INDIANA: $6.94B
6 Colorado: $5.61B
7 MICHIGAN: $5.05B
8 TENNESSEE: $3.74B
9 Virginia: $3.7B
10 NEW YORK: $3.58B— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) March 30, 2022
The win rate on wagers made online failed to crack 2% for the third consecutive month, with mobile operators collecting less than $9.1 million from close to $512.4 million handle in February for a 1.8% hold. The mobile win rate has never reached the industry standard of 7% in a non-COVID impacted month since the NGCB began releasing specific breakouts in 2020, and it was the fifth time in the last seven months it failed to reach 3%.
The mobile handle represented just shy of 67% of the total amount wagered, the first time since last October it was below 70% of the overall handle. The overall handle of nearly $1.9 billion, however, is 56.3% higher compared to the $1.2 billion wagered through the first two months of 2021.
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