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Sports betting numbers down in Vegas
Nearly $6M less wagered on football games this season
8:56 AM PT
David Purdum
ESPN Staff Writer
People are reportedly watching less football on TV this season. They're betting less on it, too.
According to Nevada Gaming Control numbers released last week, $308.5 million was wagered on football, both pro and college, in September at the state's regulated sportsbooks. That's a year-over-year decrease of nearly $6 million, despite a similar number of games.
Overall, the amount bet with Nevada's 190 sportsbooks was down 3.9 percent on all sports in September, year-over-year.
It's a slight decrease -- but notable after several years of overall growth. For six consecutive years, Nevada's books have enjoyed record handle -- the amount bet -- on all sports. In 2015, $4.2 billion was bet on sports in the state's 190 regulated sportsbooks, which are consolidated among roughly a dozen companies. That's nearly double the amount bet in 2005.
Last year, record amounts were bet on both basketball ($1.2 billion) and baseball ($897.3 million). Football, however, saw a small decrease. In 2015, $1.6 billion was bet on NFL and college football, down from $1.7 billion in 2014. That trend appears to be continuing this football season, on top of questions about TV ratings.
"It has been a little bit of an off year," MGM vice president of race and sports Jay Rood said. "Not bad, but not double-digit growth like we've been used to the last few years."
Football remains king, though. An hour before Game 5 of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians began, more bets had been placed on just the Dallas Cowboys in their night game against the Philadelphia Eagles than had been placed on both teams in the World Series at Caesars sportsbooks.
Nevada Gaming Control does not track the betting on the NFL and NCAA football separately, but Rood said the action on the NFL has seen a much sharper decrease than on college football. As of last week, Rood said his NFL handle was down around 8 percent year over year, compared to just a 2 percent on college football. The MGM is one of the largest sportsbook operators in Nevada. Caesars said its handle was down nearly 5 percent in September.
"[I] attribute a small portion of that to the quality of the prime-time matchups, especially Thursday and Sunday night games," said Bill Sattler, director of specialty games at Caesars Entertainment.
The dip in handle has not impacted the books' success rate, though. They won $36.9 million on football in September, making it the fourth-most profitable football month ever for the house. The books held a whopping 11.94 percent of the money wagered on football in September. Over the past five years, the hold percentage on football has ranged from 3.3 percent to 6.50 percent. September, the first full month of the regular season, normally has a higher-than-normal hold percentage, but this September was exceptionally high.
In fact, the books may have done a little too well in September, leading to the decrease in handle.
"The books really did well this September, which really affects the rollover," said Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports at the Westgate SuperBook. "You're always going to have less handle."
Kornegay added that football handle is at the SuperBook, noting this is the first football season they've offered mobile sports betting.
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