Nevada sports betting handle reached close to $830 million in March. It is an increase of over $170 million from February but continues the state’s declining monthly handle trend year-over-year.
NV sports betting has recorded year-over-year decreases in monthly sports betting handle for eight consecutive months and nine out of the last 10.
Online wagers accounted for 64% of all betting dollars, according to figures recently released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. That is consistent for Nevada but far behind most other states where mobile betting is generally more than 90% of all wagering.
Q1 revenue rises in NV sports betting
First-quarter handle for Nevada sports betting in 2023 is 12% behind last year.
The Silver State took $2.75 billion in sports bets during the first three months of 2022. It handled $2.42 billion to begin this year.
Despite the handle decrease, sportsbooks registered a 5.6% hold to start the year. Revenue topped $135.5 million in the first three months of this year, a 15% increase compared to 2022. Sportsbooks held 4.3%, generating $117.8 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2022.
Basketball drives Nevada sports betting in March
Nevada sports betting revenue in March was $43.8 million, up a couple of million dollars over February ($41.2 million.)
Nevada is one of the few states that breaks down betting financials by sport. Basketball was the main interest, naturally so with Las Vegas being a popular destination for March Madness betting.
Sportsbooks took in $656 million in basketball bets last month, down from $709 million in March 2022. It is, however, up from $501 million in March 2021. The 2020 NCAA March Madness Tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a nearly 7% hold on basketball bets last month, revenue for that single sport landed almost $45 million.
Paying football bets ‘common occurrence’
Sportsbooks paid out more than $13 million in winning football bets last month. This explains why overall monthly revenue is lower than the revenue gained from basketball betting alone.
Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst with the NGCB, told LSR this is “a very common occurrence in the months after February.” Customers are cashing older tickets, with little wagering activity on football for the sportsbooks to offset their losses.
The monthly handle for hockey ($62.2 million) and baseball ($22.6 million) also increased in March.