Nevada sportsbooks won $33.28 million from bettors in July from a handle of $409.9 million, both records for the month of July, according to figures released Thursday morning by the state’s Gaming Control Board.
The handle ranks second in the nation to New Jersey, which has taken over as the biggest sports-betting market since Nevada’s monopoly was ended by the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2018. New Jersey sportsbooks handled $578.7 million in July, though it was the first time since June 2020 that the handle dipped below $600 million. Nevada still ranks second in handle among the states that have released July figures with Pennsylvania ranking third at $304.4 million. Illinois will likely supplant Pennsylvania at No. 3 like it did last month, but its figures don't get released for another week.
Back to Nevada’s July numbers, baseball led the way — as it usually does after the NBA and NHL wrap up their playoffs and before NFL preseason starts in August — with a $19 million win for the sportsbooks. It’ll be interesting to see how the books fare when the August figures come out at the end of September as favorites have been dominating all month.
The books won $5.85 million on basketball as the NBA Finals didn’t end up July 20, several weeks later than prior years (and there’s no comparison to July 2020 as the NBA didn’t return until August last year to complete the season and the playoffs in the Orlando “bubble’).
The win on basketball was actually surpassed by the $9.1 million the books won in the “other” category that includes all other sports besides the “Big Four.” The GCB doesn’t break down that category, so we can’t tell how much that was from the Olympics that started the last week of the month, but it’s interesting to note that the win was a 66.76% increase over July 2020 and nearly 240% more than was won on the “other” sports this June.
July Sports Betting Figures
1. New Jersey
$578.7 million
2. Nevada
$409.9 million
3. Pennsylvania
$304.4 million
4. Michigan
$206.3 million
5. Indiana
$194.5 million
