Led by record betting in NFL games, Nevada reported an all-time record for sports betting handle in October with Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium contributing to that growth, a gaming analyst said.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Tuesday the sports pool drop of $1.1 billion was up 66.8% ($440.4 million) versus October 2020 and up 102.3% or $556.1 million vs October 2019.
This beat the previous record of $786.5 million set in September.
Football wagering totaled $728.6 million — also an all-time record — beating the previous record set in November 2020, which totaled $502 million.
Football win, however, was just $29.8 million “due to poor hold of just 4.1%,” according to Michael Lawton, a senior economic analyst with the state. The results in football were disappointing for the sportsbooks over three consecutive weeks in October, with favorites covering the pointspread. That is expected to change in November when sportsbooks were reported to have a great month due to underdogs winning.
Sports pools won $48.3 million in October, up 14.0% ($5.9 million) versus October 2020 and up 0.9% or $423,000 versus October 2019.
Sports wagers made with mobile apps won $16.9 million on $704.2 million in wagers, holding 2.4%. This write amount accounted for 64.0% of total wagers, Lawton said.
“Nevada has experienced strong acceptance of mobile wagering by visitors who sign up for access while in town,” Lawton said. “Additionally, October is also the month where all four major league sports are in play in addition to NCAA football. Another contributing factor is this month also had five weekends of NFL games which obviously contributed to the football totals. The final point we are hearing, which is more difficult to quantify, is the impact of the Raiders games at Allegiant Stadium. Raiders’ home games have been generating higher wagering totals for some operators compared to when they are playing on the road thus far.”
Sports pool win is up 36.4% and write is up 46.3% for the first 10 months of 2021 versus 2019, Lawton said.
