Nevada has become the second state in the post-PASPA era to surpass $30 billion in all-time sports wagering handle after the state’s Gaming Control Board reported Tuesday that sportsbooks accepted $935.8 million in wagers in January.
The Silver State joins New Jersey as the only ones to cross the $30 billion threshold, and they are also the only ones currently above $20 billion. Nevada trails New Jersey by $4.4 billion in wagering since the landmark Supreme Court decision of May 2018. Nevada ceded the No. 1 spot to the Garden State in April 2021.
Nevada’s sports betting handle in the first month of 2023 was the fifth highest in the last 56 months of wagering, but it was 15.8% lower than last January’s record $1.1 billion wagered statewide. Last month’s handle was 6.3% higher than the $880.5 million reported in December.
Revenue was slightly above $50.4 million, marking the fourth time in the last five months that sportsbooks cleared $50 million. The house had failed to reach that benchmark in the nine months prior to reaping $70.6 million last September. Operator win rate was just under 5.4%, the first time the house had statewide back-to-back win rates above 5% since an 11-month run from September 2020 to July 2021.
The state received $3.4 million in tax receipts, with revenue down 8.6% compared to December and up 0.8% versus January 2022.
Retail sportsbooks start 2023 in impressive fashion
January #SportsBetting numbers 🧵for #Nevada via NGCB. Mobile/Retail Han/Rev/WR
Mobile: $581.61M/$17.739M/3.05%
Retail: $354.18M/$32.7M/9.23%3/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 28, 2023
With Las Vegas a holiday destination, it appears more than a few visitors opted to make a sports wager as one of their New Year’s resolutions. Retail handle statewide totaled $354.2 million, the highest since $396.8 million in wagers were accepted in October 2021. The house fared well for itself on those bets, posting a 9.2% hold to claim $32.7 million in revenue.
The retail win rate was more than triple the mobile hold, which was less than 3.1% on $581.6 million handle and left operators with $17.7 million. It was the third consecutive month mobile operators failed to post a hold of at least 3.2%. They have yet to reach the industry standard of 7% in any month in which the Nevada Gaming Control Board has provided mobile wagering breakouts since January 2020.
Football and basketball key revenue
January #SportsBetting numbers 🧵for #Nevada via NGCB. Han/Rev/WR by category (2/2)
💸 (parlay) $3.24M/$1.388M/42.9%
🤷♂️ (other ⚽️🏌️♂️🎾🏎️🥊) $59.68M/$3.39M/5.68%
🏒 $50.71M/$2.277M/4.49%5/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) February 28, 2023
Football wagers accounted for more than half the January revenue, with operators claiming $28.7 million from $429.9 million handle for a 6.7% hold. Though basketball was an easy second at $15.4 million, the $392.2 million in accepted wagers was down 22.3% compared to the $504.9 million in bets placed throughout the first month of 2022. Hoops revenue was 35.9% higher compared to January 2022, as the hold climbed 1.7 percentage points to just over 3.9%.
The catch-all other category, which for Nevada includes golf, tennis, soccer, boxing, and MMA, generated $3.4 million in revenue. Handle there was also down noticeably, however, as the $59.7 million marked the lowest total since $57 million was reported wagered in December 2021.
Operators had a 4.5% hold on hockey, generating $2.3 million from $50.7 million handle, while parlays proved a winning play for the house — the win rate was a robust 42.9%, with close to $1.4 million retained from $3.2 million handle. The loss on paying out winning baseball tickets in January was $709,000, down 24.9% compared to the same period last year.
Photo: Getty Images
