It’s only fitting for sports betting in Nevada to push the legal US market beyond a significant post-PASPA benchmark.
More than $25 billion has been legally bet on sports in the US since June 2018, the first full month following the end of PASPA. Nevada tipped the scale beyond $25 billion with $475 million in handle in August.
For decades, Nevada was the only destination to place a legal sports wager in the United States. Just more than two years later, Nevada took second to New Jersey during an August with an unusually robust sports calendar.
New Jersey’s dominance in August was largely because of its mobile share. More than 90% of all of August’s record $668 million NJ sports betting handle came via online.
Nevada, meanwhile, had just 64.3% of handle come from mobile, according to the state report. That’s down from 69% in July.
Nevada sports betting accounted for most of record
Even though Nevada ranked behind New Jersey for August, the sports betting OG is still the clubhouse leader for handle since June 2018.
August brought Nevada’s handle over that period past $10 billion. The Silver State also leads in terms of sports betting revenue with more than $600 million. New Jersey ranks second in both with $7.7 billion in handle and $532 million in revenue.
The Pennsylvania sports betting market takes bronze with $2.7 billion in handle. Indiana is the only other sports betting market to top the $1 billion mark since then.
It will be an interesting race between two new sports betting markets to see who crosses the $1 billion mark next. Sports betting in Colorado is off to a hot start, but Illinois sports betting got an unexpected boost from remote registration.
Results normalizing in NV
It’s been a rocky few months for Nevada, but it looks like sports betting is starting to level out.
The state’s lack of remote registration meant many sportsbook operators couldn’t take on new customers during casino shutdowns from the coronavirus pandemic. That – and a serious lack of sports – led to five straight months with handle below $200 million.
August’s total handle was more than March through July‘s handle combined, though. Basketball accounted for $193.9 million in bets while baseball had $175.2 million in handle. Both of those totals are higher than any single month over that period.
The other category, which accounted for nearly every sport available during the pandemic, accounted for $51.2 million in bets. That’s down from $80.3 million in July
September will present the first post-shutdown month with NFL betting, which should provide a major boost.
