Nevada Sportsbooks Eke Out Small Revenue Gain For 2022

The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported sports wagering revenue of $55.2 million for the month of December on Tuesday, with the surge in retail revenue from the final month of the year enough for the state’s sportsbook operators to post a fractional year-over-year gain from 2021.

Brick-and-mortar sportsbooks accounted for $37.1 million in revenue for the final month of 2022 thanks to a robust 13.4% hold. It was the fourth time in 2022 that retail revenue represented at least 60% of the overall monthly total, with in-person wagering bringing in 54.4% — or $242.8 million — of the operator revenue for the calendar year. The $446.1 million in total sports wagering revenue for 2022 was 0.2% higher than 2021, with the increase in actual dollars totaling $923,000.

The $880.5 million handle for December was down 5.1% from November and 12.8% off compared to 2021, when it surpassed $1 billion. Overall handle for 2022 was up 6.8% to $8.7 billion, an increase of some $556 million.

Nevada will rank fourth behind New York, New Jersey, and Illinois for 2022 handle. The Silver State, though, did push the national handle for the calendar year over $90 billion with six revenue reports still outstanding, including two from Arizona and one each from Illinois, Virginia, and Colorado.

The state collected $3.7 million in tax receipts for December, with the revenue haul the sixth-largest in 55 months of wagering in the post-PASPA era. Nevada’s coffers had an inflow of $30.1 million from sports wagering for the year, an increase of $62,304 from 2021.

Wrapping up the year

Nevada’s sportsbooks had a much better December month-over-month and year-over-year thanks to a 6.3% hold that was the second-highest of the year behind September’s 9.3% win rate. Revenue was up 46.5% against November’s total of $37.7 million and more than triple that of December 2021, when the house was held to under $16 million on a measly 1.6% win rate.

The bulk of sportsbook revenue in December came from football, where operators nailed the industry standard win rate of exactly 7% to claim $33.7 million in revenue from $481.8 million worth of wagers placed. Basketball was a distant second, with $13.3 million from $271.3 million handle and a 4.9% hold.

The catch-all “other” category, which includes golf, soccer, and tennis, provided $5.1 million in winnings from $76 million handle, while hockey revenue edged over $3 million from $44.9 million in bets placed.

Operators paid out $1.3 million more in winning baseball tickets than the $77,807 in bets placed, but the $1.2 million-plus in parlay revenue nearly absorbed that entire hit. The parlay win rate was a healthy 19.7% for the final month of 2022 and 28.3% for the year, though the $36 million handle for the entire calendar year pales in comparison to other large-market states with extensive same-game parlay availability through FanDuel, DraftKings, and other mobile sportsbooks.

With $2.8 billion handle, basketball edged out football as the top wagering sport in Nevada for 2022 by roughly $57 million. Basketball handle ticked 6.4% higher versus 2021, but revenue was off 17.2% to $122.4 million as the hold dropped more than one full percentage point to 4.3% for 2022. Football handle was up 2.6% year-over-year, while revenue outpaced that gain by rising 5.2% to $161.8 million.

Baseball handle climbed 13.7% to $1.6 billion, while revenue was up 17% to $80 million despite Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale collecting $10 million of his nearly $75 million in winnings in Nevada for picking the Houston Astros to win the World Series in November. Hockey handle picked up nearly 11% versus 2021 to $495.4 million, while revenue increased 19.2% to $19.5 million despite the hold being under 4%.

Mobile conundrum continues

Mobile wagering continues to be how the public enjoys success against the house in Nevada. The win rate for the year via online wagering was barely above 3.4% on nearly $6 billion handle, with operators keeping $203.2 million in winnings. The 3% hold for December was the lowest since a 2.5% win rate was recorded in April and extended the run of sub-6% holds from mobile wagering to 20 months.

Conversely, the brick-and-mortar win rate for December trailed only the 15.9% hold from September for the year. The retail hold for Nevada in 2022 was 8.8%, with $248.2 million collected from $2.8 billion wagered. It was also the sixth time in the last 16 months that retail sportsbook revenue cleared $30 million, something online books have done just once in that span.