Without the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, Silver State February sports betting produced significant year-over-year decreases.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported a monthly $604.8 million handle, down 15% from Feb. 2024, when the popular gambling city hosted the NFL’s premier event for the first time.
Last year’s Big Game produced over $190 million in wagers. Super Bowl LIX, however, saw a 20% decrease in bets.
Less money wagered also meant less money received, as the $41.3 million in gross revenue operators produced in February fell 13.8% year-over-year. Mobile sportsbooks accounted for $22.9 million of the total haul.
The 6.8% hold was up slightly from Feb. 2024's 6.7%, but way down from January’s impressive 9.1% win rate.
The Silver State filled its coffers with $2.8 million. With just one NFL game in February, that fell from the $4.9 million Nevada made in tax income after January’s $796.9 million handle and $72.6 million in revenue.
Sport-by-sport
Despite decreases for the overall month, Super Bowl LIX still produced the highest-ever win for sportsbooks at $22.1 million. However, total football brought in a lesser $13.8 million for the month. That was up 15% year-over-year.
Basketball produced $16.3 million in revenue, a 34% decrease from Feb. 2024. Hockey led to $2.2 million in profits with the “other” sports category making up $8.9 million of total February income.
Silver State operators barely scratched out a small profit on parlays while baseball cost sportsbooks $440,000 in February payouts.
Legal matters
Earlier this month, the NGCB sent Kalshi a cease-and-desist letter, ordering the prediction market platform to stop offering sport-event contracts that act like Nevada sports betting wagers. The agency extended the order to exit the market until Mar. 14.
Kalshi responded late last week by filing a lawsuit against Nevada, claiming the company’s markets offered to all 50 U.S. states are federally regulated, and the Silver State is violating the Commodity Exchange Act by keeping Kalshi from operating there.
The NGCB has yet to release a public statement on the litigation. Kalshi also filed a lawsuit against New Jersey regulators.
