Nevada Sports Betting Down From June But Higher than July 2021

Nevada had its lowest sports betting handle in a year in July, demonstrating again how slow the summer is while bookmakers await the NFL and college football to return.

Meanwhile, total gaming win in the state exceeded $1 billion yet again, though the best US online casinos do not operate there.

Baseball, of course, was the runaway leader in July sports betting in Nevada, drawing nearly $290 million in handle for the month. Betting on sports outside of the traditional four majors (football, baseball, basketball and hockey) hit $97.65 million for the month.

The total handle last month was $419,383,792, down 14.5% from the $490.56 million in June Nevada sports betting.

The July figure was 2.4% higher than July 2021 ($409.66 million) in a year-over-year comparison, according to numbers reported by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, 

The mobile sports betting handle for July was $273.7 million, a 17% drop from June’s $329.63 million in a month-over-month comparison. Last month’s total was a 13.1% increase from July 2021 ($241.95 million).

Revenue fell significantly in both comparisons, falling to $16.221 million. That was the lowest figure in Nevada since the $15.96 million reported in December 2021 and was down 31.9% from the $23.835 million in June. It was an even steeper drop, 51.3%, compared to the $33.278 million in July 2021.

Mobile sports betting handle was 65.3% of total handle in July.

The July total gaming win was nearly $1.316 billion in July at the state’s 200-plus commercial casinos combined. That was 3.17% lower than July 2021, but a look at the larger picture reveals that Nevada casinos are on quite a winning streak.

July was the 17^th consecutive month of $1 billion-plus in gaming win. Over the past 12 months the total gaming win has added up to $14.6 billion, almost 30% higher than the previous 12-month span from Aug. 1 to July 31, 2020-21.

As always, Las Vegas strip casinos accounted for the bulk of the action, taking in $773.4 million. That was 2.4% lower than July 2021. The area with the largest increase compared to 12 months earlier was Elko County in the northeast corner of the state, where gaming win increased 5.13% to almost $36 million.

The easing of restrictions related to COVID-19 has undoubtedly been a factor for increased casino action. It would be interesting to see how, if Nevada offered the convenience of mobile options such as online roulette and blackjack as it does for online poker and sports wagering, the landscape would evolve for brick-and-mortar casinos that are the backbone of Nevada’s gambling economy.