Nevada Falls Out of Top Five with April Handle Reported

The last few months have been challenging for the Nevada legal sports betting scene, including some of our best sportsbooks, which operate retail locations in the state.

For the second straight reporting period, The Nevada Gaming Control Board report shows a year-over-year decrease in overall sports betting activity in April and an obvious drop in handle from March. The latter is a nationwide trend due to the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball tournaments dominating wagering menus in March; the former is an abnormality.

Despite the underwhelming overall sports betting handles for Nevada sports betting apps and retail providers, revenues actually climbed month-over-month and, so far this year, have shown marked improvement over the first four months of 2023.

$569.2 million handle

Bettors in the Silver State spent a total of $569.2 million with Nevada’s best sportsbooks in April. Nevada sports betting apps were responsible for about $389.8 million, or 68.5% of the overall action, the highest percentage since last August when the state’s sports betting sites accounted for about 73.5% of all wagering activity.

That handle is an expected 27.5% drop from the $785.2 million reported in March, but more troubling is the 5.5% dip from the state’s sports betting handle from April 2023. April represents the second straight month that overall betting activity in the state has declined year-over-year.

Year-to-date, the Nevada sports betting handle is down 5.8% to $2.85 billion through the first four months of the year.

Mixed bag results for revenues

The Nevada Gaming Control Board report identified $30.8 million in revenue for Nevada sportsbooks in April thanks to a pedestrian 5.4% win rate for the state’s sports betting providers.

That figure is a 5.8% year-over-year decline but does represent a somewhat unexpected month-over-month increase of 3.5% despite over $200 million less in wagers. The win rate in March was just 3.8% which seriously affected the bottom line.

So far this year, sportsbook revenues for Nevada providers are up 3.1%. This is largely thanks to nearly $112 million in combined revenues from January and February.

Taxes paid by Nevada sports betting providers was $2.1 million in April taking the year-to-date total to $11.7 million. That is just over $352K ahead of last year’s pace

Revenue issues

Two main factors drove Nevada sportsbook profits down in April: retail and sports betting apps were still paying out on the NFL two months after the final game of the season. Remember, Nevada sportsbooks took a beating from Super Bowl betting.

Retail sports betting outlets were responsible for $179.2 million of the state’s overall handle but thanks to an ugly 3.5% hold, provided just $6.3 million in revenue. At least it was better than March’s retail win rate of 1.4%!

As far as the NFL goes, Nevada sportsbooks took in $2.4 million in wagers in April and paid out $5.7 million.

Where they did come from

The most bet on sport in April for Nevada residents and visitors was basketball. Both the NBA and college basketball had important games during the month and buoyed Silver State sportsbooks.

Basketball made up $222.9 million of the state’s overall April legal sports betting handle and produced $13.3 million in revenue. Baseball had a good month too, producing $10.7 million in revenue off of a $188,9 million handle.

Hockey was the most successful sport for Nevada’s best sportsbooks in terms of win rate. Sports betting providers held 10.4% on hockey and made $5.7 million in revenues despite the beloved Golden Knights exiting the NHL playoffs early.