During a big May for sportsbook operators around the U.S., those in the Silver State held steady and recorded similar legal sports betting numbers month-over-month.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported revenue of $30.1 million for May — down 7% from April — on a handle of $527 million. The 5.7% hold is up 1.3% month-over-month and higher than the 4.8% from May 2022.
It’s close to where Nevada sports betting historically sits in win rate, but it’s far off from other high-handle states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts — which all saw their operators turn double-digit holds in May.
Sports betting sites and retail's combined May handle was down 11.8% monthly and 6.2% yearly, while mobile wagering of $358 million made up 67.9% of the total handle but saw a 10% drop from May 2022.
Retail revenue of $12.6 million was only about $5 million less than online’s, thanks to a win rate of 7.4% for the brick-and-mortar shops that eclipsed mobile’s hold of 4.9%.
The Silver State hauled in $2.02 million in tax revenue — down slightly from the $2.2 million in April — which put the current total for 2023 at over $971 million collected.
Hockey body checks operators
Despite no NFL or college football games in May, it was quite the month for sportsbook operators... who shelled out $3.6 million in bettors’ earnings — mostly from the previous season. Just $3.3 million were wagered on the sport during the month.
Baseball helped make up for that as the sport accounted for $16.5 million in revenue from a handle of $230.1 million. With the NBA playoffs being one of the primary sporting events in May, Nevada sportsbooks took in $175.5 million in wagers and made nearly $12 million in revenue.
As expected, the Vegas Golden Knights — who advanced through the NHL playoffs during the month of May before winning the Stanley Cup in June — proved costly as operators turned a profit just above $328,000 on a hockey handle of nearly $50 million.
