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Nevada Sportsbooks Thrive In November While Casino Revenue Continues Sluggish Recovery

Sportsbooks Saw A Roughly 100% Year-Over-Year Increase In Revenue, But Overall Gaming Fell By Nearly 18%

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Despite a strong showing from the state’s sportsbooks, Nevada casinos continue to struggle in the post-COVID-19 gambling era.

According to numbers released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Silver State casinos won $771.2 million in November. Those figures represent a 17.75% year-over-year decrease in revenue. On the bright side for operators, a nearly 18% fall is much better than what the market has done for most of 2020.

In October, gaming revenue dropped by 19.5%. For three months before that, the state saw at least a 22% decline.

As it has been for most of the year, the Las Vegas Strip area was hit the hardest, as it’s the area of the state most reliant on tourism. Strip casinos won $349.8 million in November, which was good for a 32.46% dip in revenue. It’s slightly worse than the 30.22% drop in October, but still better than the at least 40% fall for the three prior months.

The Downtown Las Vegas area saw the smallest of upticks with $52.9 million in revenue and 1.74% increase, but other than 23.75% year-over-year growth in South Lake Tahoe, most areas saw a sizable drop.

Sportsbooks, on the other hand, continue to thrive during the pandemic. In October, Nevada sportsbooks set a record handle, accepting $659.9 million from bettors. In November, operators booked $606.9 million in sports bets, down slightly thanks to the lack of NBA and NHL games, but posted an astonishing 10.1% hold rate resulting in $61.8 million in revenue.

November’s revenue was more than any table game offered at a licensed casino and was nearly double what casinos won from sports bettors in November 2019.

Casinos paid $49.87 million in taxes to the state government. A decline in gaming revenue means that the government coffers receive less as well as it was a 16.02% decrease from what was paid to the government in December 2019.