For the first time in the history of American gambling, the monthly sports betting handle in Nevada wasn’t tops in the nation, according to numbers released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board Thursday.
While Nevada sportsbooks accepted $317.4 million in wagers in May, New Jersey’s sports betting handle was $318.9 million. Through its first year of operation, the Garden State’s sportsbooks accepted $3 billion in wagers.
Retired state senator Raymond Lesniak, one of the lawmakers who spearheaded the sports betting efforts in New Jersey, expected this all along.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Lesniak told ESPN Chalk. “I’ve been saying all along that the northeast and New Jersey is a hotbed of sports activity. We love our sports. We are well on our way in overall gaming, to becoming the Las Vegas of the East Coast.”
Despite dropping behind New Jersey, Nevada sportsbooks are still on pace for a record-breaking year.
The books set a record in 2018 after passing the $5 billion mark in total handle for the first time. On the $317.4 million in wagers that were accepted, Nevada sportsbooks profited $11.2 million in the month of May. Last March, Nevada sportsbooks took nearly $600 million in wagers.
Nevada casinos experienced its fifth straight month of decline in May. The combined revenue from casinos throughout the state totaled $981.8 million, which is good for a six percent year-over-year drop.
Strip casinos generated $581.7 million of it, which is down 11 percent.
“It was a disappointing month,” Michael Lawton, a senior research analyst for the Gaming Control Board, told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “Currently, the state is down 2.3 percent calendar year to date and the Strip is down 4.9 percent. The reason for the decrease was baccarat, which was down 54.8 percent or $66.2 million.”
Downtown Las Vegas casinos were one of the few bright spots in the state. Those casinos generated $54.8 million, up 2.84 percent. South Lake Tahoe was up 11.5 percent after its casinos posted revenue of $20.1 million.
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
