Nevada Sportsbooks Experience Double-Digit Month-Over-Month Drops in May

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released its May sports betting revenue report that includes the best sportsbooks, and the findings reveal a market that experienced familiar issues to what we've seen in the broader U.S. legal sports wagering industry. 

Double-digit month-over month drops in both handle and revenues have become a right of passage for the Nevada legal sports betting scene during the spring and summer months. May 2023 was no different. 

Compounding the drop in wagering activity was Nevada sportsbooks having among the lowest hold rates in the country. The Vegas Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup, while exciting for Silver State sports fans, certainly didn't help with the win rate for the state’s books.

Nevada sports betting handle drops

Nevada sportsbooks were able to generate a $527.21 million handle in May, continuing the spring slide for the state's legal sports betting scene. It was the lowest total since August and an 11.8% drop from the $598 million handle posted in April.

That figure also represents a 6.2% drop from the $652 million the state's retail and mobile sports betting providers took in during May 2022.

Nevada's best sports betting apps were responsible for $363.65 million, or about 69%, of the total $527.21 million handle during May. That's about an 8% drop from the $395.2 million mobile take in April, and an 8.6% dip from the $397.8 million Nevada sports betting apps brought in during May 2022.

The state's sports betting sites lag far behind other participating U.S. legal sports betting states, which count on between 85% and 95% of their monthly handles coming from online.

Revenues report mixed

Following the revenue dip for Nevada sportsbooks was a drop in overall revenues for its providers. Sportsbooks in the state reported revenues of about $30.1 million, which is a month-over-month drop of 7.3% from the $32.42 million in April. 

The Nevada sportsbook hold rate continues to trail the rest of the country and mitigate any sort of huge revenues that would be possible if the state's providers held some better success. Nevada sportsbooks maintained an underwhelming 5.7% in May, the second worst of the jurisdictions that have already reported May figures. It made Nevada only the second of 24 states that have reported to come in under a 10.06% hold. 

While disappointing, that's actually an improvement from April and nearly a full percentage point higher than the 4.8% in May 2022. 

Despite all of the unflattering news, May 2023's revenues were an 11.4% improvement from the $27 million in profits reported in May 2022.

There was $2.02 million in taxes collected from Nevada's sports-betting providers during May, down slightly from the $2.2 million in April. But it's up from the $1.8 million in May 2022. 

Year-to-date numbers positive

The Nevada hold rate hasn't been great overall, but it's risen when compared to the same five-month period from in 2022. The year-to-date hold rate for Nevada sportsbooks sits at 5.6%. That's not great, but it's a full 1.2% higher than the average from January to May 2022.

The small uptick in hold rate has sent overall year-to-date revenues up 16.8% to $198 million, even though the year-to-date handle has slid 7.5% to $3.55 billion.

Increased revenues mean increased tax contributions to state and local coffers. The $2.02 million from May takes the year-to-date taxes from Nevada sportsbooks to $13.4 million, a nearly $2 million improvement from the first five months of 2022.