The Nevada sports betting handle moved back ahead of New Jersey after the largest June intake in the state’s history, helping to bring total state gaming revenue back over $1bn for the first time since March 2019.
$322.1m was wagered at Nevada sportsbooks in June, surpassing New Jersey’s $273m handle, after the garden state handled more money than Nevada in May. The figure was a 12.4% increase from 2018.
Baseball wagers made up the majority of the sportsbook intake, totaling $208.7m for the month, 14.2% more than June 2018’s $182.8m handle. Basketball bets made up $51.4m, an increase from $32m last year, helped by the 2019 NBA Finals lasting two games longer than the 2018 Finals.
Sportsbook revenue in the state totaled $16.6m, a 20% decline from last June, after the win percentage on sports wagers fell from 7% in June 2018 to 5.2% in 2019. Baseball bets took in a revenue of $11.6m, while basketball bets took in only $946,000 on a 1.84% win percentage. The state lost $637,000 on football bets, despite a handle of just $1.1m.
Slots continued to make up a majority of the state’s handle, at $9.53bn, a 3.1% increase from last June. $5.31bn of that handle came from multi-denomination slots, while $2.7bn was handled on penny slot machines. Slot revenue for the month totaled $636.5m, with penny slots earning the highest win percentage at 9.43%.
On card, table and counter games including sports and racing bets, the state handled $2.42bn and took in $404.5m worth of revenues, a 16% decrease from last year. June 2018 marked the third consecutive month in which baccarat saw more money wagered than any other card or table game and the first month since February 2019 in which Baccarat took in the most revenue. The state handled $626.3m on twenty one, down from $714.5m last year. The state handled $726.7m worth of bets on baccarat, and took in $158m of revenue, more than double the June 2018 revenue and the most since February 2018, thanks to a 20.71% win percentage.
Total revenues increased to $1.04bn, up from $933m in June 2018 and $981.8m in May 2019.
Clark County, in which Las Vegas is located, handled $9.2bn for the month and took in revenues of $906.7m, up from $791m in June 2018.
For the second quarter of 2019, the state handled $7.09bn from card, table and counter games — of which $967m came from sports bets — and made $984.3m of revenue, including $49.5m of sports betting revenue. That marked a decline from revenues of $1.01bn in Q2 of 2018.
The state handled $28.66bn on slots during the quarter, up from $28.06bn in the previous year, and took in $1.97bn, 2.75% year-on-year increase.
In total, the state handled $35.75bn during the quarter and took in revenues of $2.96bn, 0.97% year-on-year increase.