Nevada sportsbooks won an all-time state record $71.97 million in November (topping $61.8 million from last November), but fell just short of its handle record as Nevada passed $1 billion for the 2nd straight month, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the state’s Gaming Control Board.
Some have been reporting the November sports betting handle as $1.1 billion, the same as last month’s state record $1.1 billion, but October’s non-rounded handle was $1,099,984,846 with November’s $11.7 million short at $1,088,231,415. It’s important to note the October had five the advantage of five NFL Sundays while November had just four, so an argument can be made the November was far superior, especially when considering the $71.97 million profit from a 6.63 percent hold compared to October’s $48.3 million and a 4.39 percent hold.
Nevada still ranks 2nd to New Jersey among the country’s legal betting states as Jersey won an all-time record $114.8 million in November from its handle of $1.26 billion, which fell just short of the all-time handle record for any state with $1.3 billion in October. Pennsylvania is at No. 3 in both categories with $63.7 million (after promotional credits) from a handle of $761.6 million, though Illinois won’t release its November figures until next week. Illinois ranked No. 3 in October.
Back to Nevada, football led the way per usual with $53 million of the state’s profits coming from the sport (college and pro football aren’t separated) with a high 9.5 percent hold thanks to a lot of underdogs cashing, especially in the NFL.
The NBA had a full month of action in November after opening in October (note: no year-to-year comparison for November as the 2020-21 season didn’t start until December with the interrupted 1999-2020 season finishing in a bubble and not ending until October) and along with the start of college basketball gave the books a profit of $10.2 million though with a low 2.72 percent hold. The books also made nearly $3 million on hockey and $2.9 million in the “other” category that includes all other sports besides the Big Four such as UFC, boxing, NASCAR, golf, etc.
There’s another “parlay cards” category provided by the GCB that is mostly football and added another $4.4 million to the coffers on a very high (even for parlay cards) 54.76 percent hold.
Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the GCB, noted that 71.5 percent of all sports wagers in November were made on mobile apps, the highest monthly total since the GCB started tracking those wagers in January 2020.
Nevada’s racebooks won $3.36 million in November, which included the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
