Nevada Sportsbooks Claim $59 Million In December Revenue
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported $59.1 million in adjusted gross sports betting revenue for December on Wednesday, the sixth-highest monthly winnings by Silver State sportsbooks in the post-PASPA era.
The house claimed nearly half of its $481.4 million in revenue for the 2023 calendar year in the last four months, with September, October, and December now accounting for three of the top six all-time monthly totals. Revenue for the final month of the year was up 7% compared to 2022 and 44.2% higher versus the $41 million sportsbooks kept in November. The late-season surge contributed to a 7.9% increase in sportsbook revenue compared to 2022.
Handle was nearly $843 million, which ranked just outside the Top 10 in Nevada annals. It was down 4.3% from the $880.5 million to close out 2022 and 8.5% off November’s $921.2 million worth of wagers placed. The 2023 handle of $8.26 billion was down 5% versus the previous year but also marked the third consecutive year operators accepted more than $8 billion worth of bets.
The state came within $12,000 of collecting $4 million in tax receipts, and the $32.5 million that found its way into state coffers throughout 2023 was $2.4 million more than the previous year.
Revenue gains come from hoops, baseball
In reviewing revenue figures compared to 2022, the biggest gains in operator revenue in terms of both dollars and percentage came from the catch-all “other” category, which in Nevada includes tennis, golf, soccer, auto racing, boxing, and mixed martial arts. The house made $4.9 million on those wagers in December while posting a 7.9% win rate, and the $69.4 million in 2023 winnings was an increase of 31.1% compared to handle ticking only 3.5% higher to $950.2 million.
Baseball ranked second in both categories for gains, with the $93.2 million in revenue up 16.6% versus the previous year, as handle was only 0.5% higher at 1.6 billion. The house paid out $1.5 million more than the nearly $640,000 in wagers placed to close out 2023.
Operator revenue for basketball climbed 9% to $134.5 million, but hoops action slipped 10.5% to nearly $2.55 billion as football regained the handle throne it lost in 2022. The house was held to a sub-5% hold for the second consecutive month in basketball wagering, as it kept only $12.7 million of the $266.9 million worth of accepted bets. The 5.2% win rate for the year, however, was nearly one full percentage point better than the 4.3% attained in 2022.
Football handle and revenue were practically flat compared to 2022, as both figures were down slightly. The $160.8 million in operator winnings was $976,000 lower than 2022’s total, and the $2.71 billion worth of bets marked a 2.6% year-over-year decline.
Sportsbooks had a late-season rally to limit the year-over-year decline in hockey revenue after the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in June, as the $18.9 million in winnings was down less than 3% from 2022. The house posted an 11.5% hold on hockey bets in December, with the $4.6 million in revenue the second-highest total of 2023 behind February’s $5.2 million.
Parlay revenue was nearly cut in half to $5.6 million, as Nevada bettors shied away from the type of wager popular practically everywhere else in the U.S. The $19.5 million handle for multi-leg bets was down 45.7% from 2022, with December’s $5.1 million handle accounting for more than a quarter of that amount.
Retail tops mobile for 2023 revenue
The 177 sportsbooks throughout the state closed 2023 in strong fashion, posting an 11.2% hold on $280.7 million worth of bets to keep nearly $31.5 million in revenue. The 10.4% win rate spanning the last four months of 2023 allowed the retail venues to narrowly extend their revenue winning streak over their mobile betting app counterparts for a fourth consecutive year since the NGCB began breaking out those figures in 2020.
Brick-and-mortar venues finished with $240,779,000 in winnings, just $185,000 better than digital and online sportsbooks. Retail handle was up 2.4% from 2022 to $2.82 billion, accounting for more than 34% of all handle. Revenue from in-person wagering slipped 0.8% compared to the previous year.
On the mobile side, revenue was up 18.4% from 2022 despite a 8.5% decline in handle to $5.44 billion. While the 4.4% hold on digital bets for 2023 is well below the 7% industry standard, it is still one full percentage point higher than 2022. Mobile revenue totaled $27.6 million in December, with operators crafting a 4.9% win rate from $562.3 million worth of bets placed.
