An extra week of regular-season NFL games helped Nevada sportsbooks hit more than $1 billion in handle for a fourth straight month.
January’s total was a record $1.109 billion bet, just topping the $1.1 billion previous record from October. That handle is 9.3% higher than December and up 71.6% from January 2021.
It is not a record for sports betting revenue, though, as NV sportsbooks only held 4.5% of January’s handle for $50 million in revenue. While that is more than triple December’s lowly revenue total, it is down 4.6% from last January.
Sportsbooks paid nearly $3.4 million in taxes for the month.
Nevada sportsbooks see basketball lead January
While the record handle was most likely set because of that extra week of NFL betting, basketball was the most-bet sport for the month.
Operators took $504.9 million in basketball bets and held just 2.24%. That led to $11.3 million in revenue.
Football was the big moneymaker for sportsbooks in January. Books held 8.06% of the $454 million bet for $36.6 million in revenue.
Hockey was the third-highest bet category with $75.3 million in wagers. Sportsbooks went into the red on hockey, though. A negative 0.19% hold lead to a loss of $143,000 on hockey for the month.
Mobile handle accounted for 70.9% of all handle with $786.8 million bet online. Operators did not do as well online as they did in retail, though. Only 1.93% was held for $15.2 million in revenue.
January a record month for most markets
Nevada is not exactly unique in hitting a new handle high in January. Fourteen of the 20 US jurisdictions to publish January results so far reported record handle.
| State | Jan. 2022 Handle | vs. Jan 2021 | vs. Dec. 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $1,686,263,898 | 7951.9% | 7880.4% |
| New Jersey | $1,348,860,083 | 40.7% | 9.7% |
| Nevada | $1,109,329,327 | 71.6% | 9.3% |
| Pennsylvania | $793,722,787 | 29.0% | 5.8% |
| Michigan | $532,681,710 | 253.1% | 3.5% |
| Indiana | $500,138,648 | 43.6% | 8.0% |
| Tennessee | $386,059,756 | 82.7% | 12.9% |
| Iowa | $303,327,688 | 102.9% | 13.8% |
| Connecticut | $158,092,481 | N/A | 5.3% |
| New Hampshire | $99,540,825 | 66.5% | 15.1% |
| Louisiana | $89,732,385 | N/A | 127.2% |
| Mississippi | $66,523,295 | -1.7% | 17.0% |
| West Virginia | $58,894,228 | 16.2% | 2.8% |
| Oregon | $42,899,735 | 22.8% | 27.1% |
| Maryland | $32,580,831 | N/A | 96.8% |
| Washington DC | $18,627,789 | 18.3% | -3.1% |
| Delaware | $12,637,103 | -19.2% | flat |
| Arkansas | $8,415,932 | 17.1% | 8.0% |
| Montana | $5,117,000 | -0.4% | 4.0% |
| South Dakota | $835,252 | N/A | 23.7% |
| Total | $7,254,280,753 | 116.0% | 20.0% |
* Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi, Montana, Washington DC and West Virginia did not report record handle.
A lot of that handle growth comes from the launch of online NY sportsbooks, of course. Stripping out New York means the $5.568 billion handle is up 65.8% from last January, but down 7.9% month-over-month from December.
New York’s launch also meant Nevada slipped to the third overall spot for monthly handle. Whether that remains, especially over the summer’s slower betting months, might depend on how operators continue to treat New York.
Some, like Caesars Sportsbook, said they are mostly done with traditional marketing across the US.
