Nevada casino sportsbooks reported a new record for betting handle in November, helping to blunt the impact of declines in baccarat and slot machine revenue.
Figures released Saturday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board show statewide casino gaming revenue hitting $937.5m in the month of November, a 3% fall from the same month last year and well below October 2019’s $1.02b. Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip reported revenue falling 3.1% to just below $518m.
Nevada sportsbooks reported handling wagers worth $614.1m, a 5.7% year-on-year rise and 2.9% higher than the state’s previous record-high handle of $596.7m set this March. It’s the first time the state has exceeded $600m in betting handle.
Nevada’s November handle was also significantly greater than the $562.7m reported by New Jersey-licensed sportsbooks last month, although New Jersey’s November betting revenue of $32.9m eclipsed Nevada’s $31m (+14.3% year-on-year)
Football drove Nevada’s November betting revenue with $22.5m, up nearly 22% year-on-year, while basketball revenue fell nearly one-quarter to $8.15m and parlay wagering slipped 2.2% to $2.3m. ‘Other’ wagers nearly tripled to $4.2m, while the state’s race books saw their revenue fall 9.7% to $3.75m.
Nevada’s monthly total would have been far higher were it not for the nearly $6.2m worth of winning tickets cashed in by baseball bettors following the World Series.
Nevada’s slot machines reported revenue falling 2.9% to $616.7m, while the ‘table, counter & card games’ segment was down 3.5% to $320.76m. The table total suffered from drops in baccarat ($75.5m, -22.7%) and blackjack ($86.15m, -1.7%), declines that gains in roulette ($31.8m, +11%) and craps ($31.66m, +3.9%) couldn’t mask.
For the second month in a row, the state’s poker tables reported a double-digit revenue improvement. Poker brought in slightly below $10.7m in November, up 18.1% year-on-year, although around $100k less than October’s result.
