A downward trend continued in the Silver State, but it wasn’t as drastic in May.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported a monthly handle of $515.1 million, down 2.3% year-over-year and 9.4% from April.
This marks the third consecutive month that the amount wagered has gone in that direction. However, March’s handle fell 5.5% while April’s dropped 4.8%, so the lesser action compared to the previous year is getting better for online and retail sportsbooks in the Silver State.
Year-to-date, the $3.4 billion handle is down 5.3% from the same period in 2023.
Better news for operators is that May’s revenue jumped 19.8% year-over-year to $36 million, and the year-to-date total of $209.2 million is up 5.6%.
The latest 6.99% hold is significantly higher than the 5.4% win rate from April and up from 5.7% in May 2023.
The Silver State filled its coffers in May with $2.4 million in tax revenue.
Online wagering accounted for $351.2 million of the total handle and 68.2% of the revenue on a $6.7 million haul.
Football still hurts
Another Nevada trend continued in May: pigskin payouts.
For the third consecutive month since the Super Bowl, bettors showed up in the Silver State to cash winning tickets.
Sportsbooks paid out $3.4 million after shelling out $13 million in March and another $5.7 million in April.
With no NFL games until preseason begins in August, operators aren’t offsetting the revenue losses as the handle for football was just $1.6 million.
The Super Bowl is rarely a massive win for sportsbooks, but the Kansas City Chiefs and a lot of the bettor-friendly props going against operators have evolved into a four-month (and counting) nightmare.
Playoff profits
Nevada sportsbooks still turned a nice profit for the month, thanks to the NBA and NHL playoffs.
Basketball produced a 9.3% hold and $17.2 million of revenue on a handle of $183.8 million.
The Nevada sports betting win rate on hockey reached nearly 8% as the sport made operators $3.4 million on a handle of $42.5 million.
Baseball revenue rose from $10 million in April to more than $11.1 million in May, while the handle went up $16 million. Still, the sport produced a modest 5.5% hold.
Thanks to a hold of more than 9%, the Silver State’s sportsbooks made $7.8 million from the other sports, including tennis, soccer, auto racing, golf, boxing, and MMA, but operators lost about $15,000 on parlays.
