Nevada Sportsbooks Reach Historic Handle in November, Break $600 Million for First Time

Posted on: December 28, 2019, 09:34h. 

Last updated on: December 29, 2019, 08:07h.

Steve Bittenbender Read More
Expertise: Legislation, Sports Betting, Horse Racing.

The proliferation of sports betting across the United States certainly hasn’t seemed to hurt the Nevada sportsbooks at all.

The SuperBook at the Westgate Resort in Las Vegas. (Image: Westgate Resorts)

The granddaddy of the US sports betting scene posted a handle of nearly $613.6 million in November. It marks the first time the state’s sportsbooks have crossed $600 million in a month, and it comes 18 months after the Supreme Court opened the door to sports betting nationwide through the repeal of PASPA.

Nevada legalized sports betting 70 years ago.

The sportsbooks posted revenues of $31 million for the month. That’s actually down nearly $17 million from October, and largely due to the end of the baseball season. The books reported a win of $11.5 million in October, when the World Series ended, and marked a loss of $5.5 million last month, as many winning futures bets were cashed out.

The handle is up 5.6 percent from November 2018, when the sportsbooks reported a handle of $581 million. The revenues are up 14.2 percent from last year, when they took in $27.2 million.

Last week, New Jersey announced its sportsbooks posted a record handle as well, with $562.7 million bet at its sportsbooks last month. Pennsylvania, with a handle of $316.5 million, and Indiana, with $147.3 million, also posted their largest handles last month.

For the calendar year, Nevada’s sportsbooks have taken $4.75 billion in bets. That has led to $292.8 million in revenue for the first 11 months of 2019.

More than 92 percent of the November bets were placed in Clark County sportsbooks.

Football Rules

With college and pro football in full swing, it’s not surprising that nearly two-thirds of all bets placed were on gridiron games.

Nevada’s sportsbooks reported $384.6 million in bets on football. The month included some of the bigger college football games of the season, including Alabama-LSU, Alabama-Auburn, and Michigan-Ohio State. Big NFL games for the month included the Thanksgiving tripleheader, as well as the Ravens-Patriots and the Seahawks-49ers.

The start of college basketball, as well as the first full month of NBA action, helped increase the basketball handle from $36.1 million in October to $166.6 million last month.

Other sports, including hockey, golf, and boxing, accounted for $51.4 million in bets last month. That included the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz fight on Nov. 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Wilder won that bout with a dramatic seventh-round knockout.

Casino Revenue Down

The state’s casinos saw their overall revenue drop from October to November by more than $84 million.

The 440 licensed casinos and gaming facilities in Nevada reported a combined $937.5 million in revenue. That’s also down nearly $30 million from the $967.2 million reported in November 2018.

Based on a 12.7 percent win percentage for table games and a 6.4 percent win percentage for slots, Nevada’s casinos took nearly $12.14 billion in bets last month. That handle did not change from a year ago.