The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported nearly $37.7 million in operator sports wagering revenue for November on Thursday, with the house failing to post a 5% hold for the ninth time in 2022.
Handle did tick 0.7% higher compared to October, reaching close to $927.9 million, but revenue comparisons for both month-over-month and year-over-year showed steep fall-offs. That was to be expected, as the $56.9 million in operator winnings in October was the fourth-highest total of the post-PASPA era, and the nearly $72 million claimed in November 2021 is the high-water mark in 54 months of wagering.
The month-over-month decline was 33.7%, while the year-over-year drop was 47.7%. Year-over-year handle dipped 14.5% despite the total ranking fifth in the post-PASPA era. The win rate, which was below 4.1%, was more than two full percentage points lower versus October of this year and November 2021. The state received more than $2.5 million in tax receipts for November, lifting the total for 2022 to almost $26.4 million.
Though year-over-year handle for 2022 is up 9.6% versus last year to more than $7.8 billion, bettors have limited the house to close to $390.9 million in revenue heading into December. That is 8.9% lower than the same period in 2021, which has contributed to tax revenue falling off by more than $2.6 million.
The Silver State’s handle lifted the nationwide total for the calendar year above $80 billion. Sports wagering handle across the U.S. from 2018-21 combined was slightly more than $97 billion.
A challenging month across the board for operators
November #SportsBetting numbers for #Nevada via NGCB, a 🧵. Mobile/Retail Han/Rev/WR
Mobile: $641.69M/$20.149M/3.14%
Retail: $286.17M/$17.522M/6.12%
3/x #GamblingTwitter
— Chris Altruda (@AlTruda73) December 29, 2022
Of the six categories for which the NGCB provides revenue figures and win rates, only the catch-all “other category” surpassed the industry standard hold of 7%. In Nevada, “other” includes boxing, MMA, golf, and tennis among other sporting events, and revenue totaled more than $5.8 million from $71.6 million wagered for an 8.1% hold.
Football was the primary driver of both handle and revenue, though the revenue was kept modest by the sportsbooks’ 4.4% win rate. Operators kept $22.9 million from close to $516.7 million wagered, while football handle in the post-PASPA era surpassed $10 billion all-time.
Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale also put a drag on revenue totals. In Nevada, the Houston-based furniture magnate picked up $10 million of his $75 million in winnings for picking the Astros to win the World Series. McIngvale cashed four $500,000 wagers for the Astros to win at +500 made through BetMGM at the Bellagio for an eight-figure payout.
That contributed to a loss of more than $4.7 million in baseball statewide on $26.5 million handle, resulting in a win rate of minus 17.8%. Nevada can take solace at least that McIngvale didn’t break the house like he did in Louisiana — the Pelican State has the single biggest monthly sports wagering loss in the post-PASPA era at more than $25.3 million after McIngvale collected $58.7 million there.
Basketball was the other primary source of operator revenue at close to $9.7 million, but bettors fared well when it came to hoops. The hold was just 3.7% on more than $261.1 million worth of wagers.
Mobile bettors keep chugging along
It has now been 19 months since Silver State mobile operators posted a hold of 6% or better. The 3.1% win rate for November is in the middle of the pack for the calendar year, while the $641.7 million worth of online bets trailed only the $786.8 million placed in January. The $20.1 million in revenue from mobile wagers represented 53.5% of the overall revenue, marking the first time since August it cracked 50%.
Despite mobile handle totaling more than $5.3 billion and accounting for 68.3% of the overall amount, the percentage of revenue derived from online wagers is 47.4% at $390.9 million. The retail win rate for November was 6.1%, with the house keeping $17.5 million from $286.2 million in wagers.
Photo: Shutterstock
