A year after football bettors produced one of their best months ever in Nevada, sports betting operators in the Silver State got their revenge.
Key Takeaways
- Football revenue rose year-over-year from $9.7 million to $33 million, sparking the overall profit increase.
- The 7.4% hold in October was slightly ahead of 2025’s average win rate.
- Revenue from basketball was down from the previous October, but baseball profits were up significantly.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced on Tuesday that online and retail sportsbooks generated 105.2% more gross revenue in October than in the same month in 2024. The $59.3 million from a $798.2-million handle was a great improvement over the $28.9 million produced a year ago.
Profits from the NFL and college football rose from $9.7 million during a customer-friendly October 2024 to $33 million in the latest reported month. Operators across the U.S. have reported higher win rates than last October when NFL favorites won at an unprecedented pace.
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Holding steady
The 7.4% hold was slightly above the 2025 average and significantly ahead of October 2024’s 3.6% win rate.
Nearly $60 million in operator revenue is the second-highest produced in 2025, and Nevada online sportsbooks made 128.5% more revenue with their $42.9 million.
October’s handle was the second-best recorded in 2025, and it was less than a half-percent higher year-over-year. The amount wagered in October was 50% higher than in September.
Sports betting operators paid out $4 million in taxes for the month.
Basketball revenue dips
| Sport | October Revenue | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Football | $33 million | 241.4% |
| Basketball | $6.5 million | -9.6% |
| Baseball | $5.7 million | 31.2% |
| Other | $8.3 million | 47.5% |
A sports-heavy October included the MLB playoffs and World Series, an entire month of NFL and college football, and starts to the NBA and NHL regular seasons.
Football, which produced close to a 7% win rate for sportsbooks, saw the most year-over-year revenue growth among sports wagered on in October. Basketball generated $6.5 million in profits, down nearly 10% from the previous October despite an 8% hold.
Operators hauled in $5.7 million from baseball, a 31.2% rise, to cap off a successful MLB season for sportsbooks, even with the favored Dodgers winning the World Series. Nevada operators set monthly revenue baseball records multiple times in 2025.
An impressive 12% win rate from hockey led to over $4 million of profits for Silver State sportsbooks, a 73% year-over-year increase. Other sports, which include golf, tennis, soccer, MMA, auto racing, and boxing, generated $8.3 million in revenue, an increase of 47.5% from the previous October.
Heavy November
It’ll be interesting to see how much that “other” category rises in November after last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Formula 1 race, which ran for a third time in the gambling mecca, was the most-wagered event the federation has ever experienced, surpassing 2024. BetMGM saw a 51% increase in handle, and Caesars reported a 30% year-over-year increase in tickets for the highly popular retail wagering event.
Last year, Nevada reported a 5.4% handle spike from October to November, reaching over $837 million during another heavy sports-volume month.
