There was no state in the US whose legal sports betting industry was harder hit by the COVID-19 pandemic than that of Nevada. A state that relies heavily on tourism and its retail betting sector was a shell of itself for about a year-and-a-half during lockdowns, capacity limits for casinos and the almost complete halting of visitors frequenting Vegas and Reno.
But the release of May’s wagering figures has revealed a state that may be on its way back to normal. Even though businesses only gained 100% capacity allotments June 1, there was a fair share of activity on Vegas streets throughout May, which contained five full weekends including the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
The result was a slight uptick in overall betting activity for the state during a time that seasonal summer slowdowns have become the norm. May’s increases have struck an optimistic tone that Nevada, with the impending spike in tourism, will be able to return to pre-pandemic norms quicker than most would have thought.
Breaking Down the Sports Betting Figures
The Nevada Gaming Commission reported a $477.2 million sports betting handle in May, which represents a 4.9% month-to-month increase from the $454.7 million the state’s sportsbooks took in during April. Nevada joins Colorado, New Jersey, Indiana, Mississippi and Washington DC as states that bucked the seasonal slowdown trend and posted increases in their month-to-month sports betting totals.
Revenues for Nevada’s legal sports betting industry were unable to follow the handle increase. In fact, revenues dropped ever-so-slightly from $27.24 in April to $27.079 in May. That’s about a 0.6% decrease. The hold rate for May was reported to be a relatively low 5.7%.
About $1.8 million in taxes was generated off the profits for state and local coffers.
Lowlights and Highlights
Nevada’s mobile sports betting scene continues to lag behind other Heavyweight states in the nation. In May, Nevada’s mobile sportsbooks accounted for 62.4% of the overall sports betting handle – a far cry from the 89%-90% figures consistently reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Indiana, Nevada’s direct competition for top spot on the handle leaderboard.
The 62.4% figure is actually a slight dip from the 63.5% reported in April. Retail sportsbooks on the other hand generated an impressive $179.7 million in handle — an increase of 11.8% from April’s figure of $160.7 million.
Basketball continued to lead the way with regard to the most bet on sports in Nevada in May. Hoops accounted for $181.5 million of the total handle in May and about $11.4 million in revenues. Baseball came a close second with $179.6 million in bets and $8.7 million in revenue and hockey rounded out the top-3 with $52.3 million and $2.3 million in revenue.
Looking to the Future
The future of the Nevada legal sports betting scene hasn’t been this bright in 18 months. Not only has Euro 2020 captured the attention of bettors, but the Olympics is coming up and so too is a huge increase in the tourist sector that Las Vegas and Reno rely on.
Looking back, the numbers for April and May weren’t horrible considering where they were in 2020. The combined 2021 May/April handle for Nevada came in at nearly $902 million, as opposed to $56.3 million over the same period during the COVID-ravaged 2020 spring betting season. For comparison’s sake, legal sports betting totals in May/April 2019 were $645.5 million.
Healthy and Reliable
Despite Nevada losing its status as the most bet-friendly state in the US, their sports wagering scene has been healthy and reliable. Since the Supreme Court’s overturning of the PASPA which banned legal sports betting across the nation, Nevada’s sports wagering revenues stand at $964.2 million and should pass the magical $1 billion-mark next month or the month after.
Nevada somehow slipped to the fourth-best legal sports betting jurisdiction in the US scene in April and has a chance to climb back to third in May, behind New Jersey once again, and Illinois which has yet to report. But with retail rounding back into form after the COVID catastrophe, the arrow is pointing way up on the broader Nevada scene as we head deeper into the summer.
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