October was another record-breaking month for Nevada casinos. According to the monthly revenue report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB), casinos in the Silver State won more than a billion dollars again.
In addition to it being the eighth consecutive month, Nevada casinos won a billion dollars or more in 2021. They tied the record for consecutive months with over a billion won in gaming.
Overall, Nevada casinos won $1.2 billion from all games. Thus including a win of $48.3 million from a record-breaking $1.1 billion in sports wagers for the month. According to the NGCB,
“This amounts to a 48.54% increase compared to October 2020, when licensees reported a gaming win of $822,271,869. For the fiscal year (July 1, 2021, through October 31, 2021), gaming win has increased 56.05%.”
Casinos can once again thank increased visitation to Las Vegas and other gaming markets in Nevada.
First-ever billion-dollar sports betting handle
Record-breaking billion-dollar sports betting handle helped push the overall gaming revenue in Nevada. Bettors wagered a record $1.1 billion at Nevada sportsbooks in October. With the result that was the first time, sports betting handle was more than a billion dollars wagered in Nevada sportsbooks.
New Jersey is the other state that has broken the billion-dollar handle threshold. The Garden State reported $1.3 billion in handle earlier this month.
Previously the record-breaking handle for Nevada sportsbooks happened just a month ago, in September. There was a record $786.5 million in sports bets last month.
While the amount of money wagered in sports was impressive, the amount won by sportsbooks wasn’t. Nevada casinos only won $48.3 million from sports betting. That’s an overall win percentage of 4.39% for the month.
The low win rate isn’t much of a surprise as Nevada sports bettors had an excellent month wagering football.
Pro and college football has more money wagers than any other sport in Nevada. The sportsbooks won $29.8 million from football wagers in October. That was good for a 4.08% win, in line with the overall sports betting win percentage.
About 10% of all sports bets in Nevada were on college and pro basketball in October. Handle for hoops in October was $110.93 million. Sportsbooks won $7.998 million. The 7.21% win was the best of all sports wagered on in October.
Bettors using Nevada sports betting apps faired better than their counterparts inside casinos. Nevada sportsbooks won only 2.4% of all money wagered on sports via mobile devices.
Overall casino gaming win
Winning in October gaming makes it a notable month for Nevada casinos. Specifically, this was the first time before the last recession in 2007 that Nevada casinos saw an overall gaming win of more than a billion dollars for the eight consecutive months.
Noticeably, casinos are winning more than last year when visitation was significantly lower due to Covid-19. The October gaming win is even more impressive because the monthly casino win was up 19.5% from October 2019 before the world was introduced to Covid-19.
While the sports betting handle for the month was impressive, its paltry 4.3% win wasn’t. Sports betting had the smallest win of any casino game. Here are the six games that generated the highest win in Nevada in October:
- Slot Machines $790.3 million (6.76% win)
- Blackjack $115.4 million (12.99% win)
- Baccarat $92.4 million (14.96% win)
- Sports $48.3 million (4.3% win)
- Roulette $40.4 million (20.46% win)
- Craps $35.6 million (13.46% win)
Three Card Poker had a 31.67% win percentage for casinos. With the result that it was the highest win percentage for casinos of all games in October.