Nevada Gains, While Individual Verticals Struggle to Keep Pace

The Nevada Gaming Board turned in a double figure jump for the month in sports betting handle, despite marginal drops across the board in vertical gaming revenues.

Double Figure Rise

The 11.5% year-on-year rise for February was surprising in comparison to the rest of the state's report regarding the widespread marginal drops in gaming revenue across the same time period.

Some Declines

Regulated gambling revenue for the month of February declined a total of 0.6% to $1.01bn, with slot revenue's 0.5% rise to $608.3m offset by declines in table, counter and card games (including sports betting) totaling 2.21% year-on-year to $403.2m.

The Sports Betting Landscape

In sports betting, February win positively spiked 235.1% to $35.8m (£27.5m/€31.9m), with operator win percentage at 7.8%, adding up to total amounts wagered of $458.6m. The year-on-year improvement from last February was over $47 million, and stands as the highest February total in Nevada ever.

American Sports

Basketball brought in the lion's share of sports betting revenue, with a take of $19.9m, or 55.5% of the monthly total.

The $11.0m brought in from football betting represented a precipitous drop from the previous year's win percentage of 7.7%, for a yield of $142.9m wagered for the month.

For major American sport baseball, the Nevada sportsbooks turned in a $267,000 loss for the month, while parlay cards brought in $516,000 of total revenue; $3.1m generated from pari-mutuel horce-race wagers; and other sports and events generated revenue of $4.7m.

Geographical Contributions

The leading contributor by geographical region was Clark Country, where a 0.44% increase in revenue from Clark County to $892.7m served to offset declines in a traditionally slow month for Nevada’s gambling market.

Not so Super

The biggest impression left from the activity for the month may have been the 8% fall in wagering on the Super Bowl to $145.9m, which when more active can spur huge spikes for the otherwise relatively slow month.

Outlook

With the loosening of restrictions on gambling nationwide, it will be interesting and telling to see who poses the most competition for sports betting by next February.