Sports Betting Slips Again in Nevada
The May sports betting numbers for the state of Nevada are in, and those numbers produced some interesting results. The total sports betting handle for the month of May was $562 million, which represented a decrease of right around 3.5% from April.
It’s not a shock to see the sports betting action dip a bit in May as this is the time of year when there aren’t as many sports available to wager on. This is now the second straight month with a total handle of less than $700 million since August 2021 when the football season was taking place.
One positive sign for the state of Nevada is that the sports betting handle was up nearly 18% year-over-year. The entire U.S. sports betting market was down over 10% in total sports betting handle in May, and a big boost won’t come again until August or September.
Another positive for both sportsbooks and the state was the fact that the total sports betting revenue actually jumped up to $27 million. This provided the state of Nevada with $1.8 million in tax revenue, but the hold rate for the month was still under five percent.
Online sports betting represents over 90 percent of all wagers in most states, but that still isn’t the case in Nevada. The retail sportsbooks play a large role in legal sports betting in Nevada, but online sportsbooks did account for nearly 68 percent of all of the action.
Baseball Betting Heating Up
The sport of baseball is not usually a popular one to wager on, but this is the time of year when that sport tends to dominate. Baseball represented a total sports betting handle of $245 million for the month which was easily a larger handle than the other major professional sports.
While betting on baseball increased by almost 31% from the month of April, betting on basketball actually went the other direction. Even though the NBA Playoffs were still being conducted in May, betting on basketball dipped by nearly 28% to bring in $178.4 million in bets.
Hockey also contributed $59.6 million in total betting handle in May after accounting for around $52 million in May 2021.
Bettors Heading to Arizona
The state of Arizona has not yet announced the sports betting handle totals from May, but it will be an interesting report when it comes out. Arizona was the sixth-largest sports betting market back in March, and it is a state that just continues to grow.
Sports bettors are starting to leave the state of Nevada and head to Arizona because there are more options available. GeoComply tracks all locations for sports betting in the U.S. and it hasn’t noticed a significant amount of bettors from Nevada, but it’s trending in that direction.
