A big October for Nevada bookmakers now means that New Jersey is no longer the only member of the Billion-Dollar Sports Betting Club.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Tuesday that sportsbooks took $1.1 billion in wagers in October, the first time the state’s monthly handle has surpassed $1 billion.
“This represents an all-time record, beating the previous record of $786.5 million set (in September]),” NGCB Senior Economic Analyst Michael Lawton noted in an email.
The sports-pool drop in Nevada last month was up 66.8% compared to October 2020 and 102.3% from the handle reported for October 2019, Lawton added. Sportsbooks also won $48.3 million last month in Nevada, a hold of 4.4% for operators and an increase of 14% over October 2020’s revenue.
Most of October’s betting in Nevada was done at online sportsbooks, as well. Lawton said sports wagering via mobile apps accounted for 64% of the total handle, or $704.2 million.
Second place, but not much of a second fiddle
The billion-dollar October for Nevada came after New Jersey became the first U.S. state to crack $1 billion in monthly sports wagering back in September. The Garden State then repeated and topped that feat in October by booking $1.3 billion in bets.
But October’s numbers show that while New Jersey has become the leading state in terms of sports-betting handle, Nevada is still a powerhouse. What’s more, the huge headline numbers being reported by the states is another sign of the staying power of the legal sports betting boom underway in the U.S.
Football proved the most popular sport among Nevada bettors in October, as wagering on the sport hit an all-time high of $728.6 million, Lawton said. Football bets also provided the biggest chunk of revenue for Nevada sportsbooks last month, as pigskin winnings were just shy of $29.8 million.
The win percentage for the books on football wagers was approximately 4.1%, as there was a strong performance in October by betting favorites.
Meanwhile, parlay wagers won most consistently for Nevada bookmakers last month. According to the gaming control board’s figures, sports parlay cards drove around $4.3 million in revenue and had a win rate for the books of approximately 37.3%.
Lawton of the NGCB said Nevada has seen strong mobile betting by tourists, and that wagering overall was helped in October by all four major sports leagues and college football teams playing games during the month.
“Another contributing factor is this month also had 5 weekends of NFL games which obviously contributed to the football totals,” Lawton added in an email. “The final point, we are hearing which is more difficult to quantify is the impact of the Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium. Raiders home games have been generating higher wagering totals for some operators compared to when they are playing on the road thus far.”