Nevada's Handle Falls, Legal Sports Betting Revenue Rises in December

Sports betting handle in Nevada may have dropped nearly $50 million in December, but revenue still climbed nearly 2% over November's numbers with a 6.27% hold.

Nevada’s legal sports betting handle dropped in December for the first time in four months, but that's not to say things aren't going well in the Silver State.

Despite a dip from $927.9 million in November to $880.5 the next month, revenue was still $55.2 million in December and the hold of 6.27% was up more than 2%, according to figures released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Sports betting in Nevada hasn’t hit the billion-dollar mark in handle since Jan. 2022, and total wagers were down 13.1% from Dec. 2021. Still, Dec. 2022 revenue increased by a staggering 245.9% when compared to the final month of 2021. The state also hauled in $3.7 million in taxes last month. 

In the final month, online sports betting sites accounted for 68.6% of the sports wagers, which was around $604 million. That’s down 21.6% from a year ago. Retail sportsbooks created a 13.4% hold and revenue of $37.1 million. 

Big year for a big betting state

The boom of legalized sports betting across the nation didn’t keep Nevada from posting its all-time best numbers for a calendar year and increasing its year-over-year profit by a slim figure of 0.2%. It was a small gain, but a gain nonetheless in the desert.

Nevada can partly thank that increase to an increase in mobile sports betting, which jumped from 64.6% of total wagers in 2021 to 68.3% in 2022. Mobile accounted for $203.2 million of the record-setting $446.7 million of revenue produced in 2022. 

“The continued acceptance of mobile sports wagering by customers is the catalyst for these results,” said Michael Lawton, Senior Economic Analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

It helped sportsbooks haul in a handle of $8.7 billion last year and just edged the previous state record of $445.1 million in revenue on a handle of $8.1 billion in 2021.  

Football rules December

It’s no surprise that football continued to dominate the landscape at Nevada sportsbooks in December. With $481.8 million wagered on the sport, sportsbooks claimed a 7% hold to turn a revenue of $33.7 million. 

Basketball accounted for a handle of $271.3 million with a 4.9% hold that produced $13.3 million in revenue to finish second. 

For the calendar year, hoops beat out football in handle by around $57 million, but despite a higher increase in wagers from the previous year, revenue in basketball fell 17.2% in 2022. Football also saw an increase in handle by 2.6%, and it claimed about $8 million more in revenue in 2022 than in 2021.