Nevada’s sports betting handle rose 0.6% year-on-year to $317.4m in May, though total gambling revenue for the month was down 6.0% to $981.8m.
May marks the first time amounts wagered in New Jersey have surpassed stakes in Nevada. Earlier this month figures from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement revealed that bettors staked $318.9m in May, of which of which $263.6m was spent online.
Nevada’s sportsbooks saw revenue decline sharply year-on-year, falling to $11.3m. The majority ($7.8m) came from baseball, with a further $4.5m coming from basketball, while a $2.4m loss on football drove down revenue. A further $1.3m was generated from betting on other events, along with $72,000 from parlay cards.
The state’s monthly total failed to hit the $1bn mark for the second consecutive month, having generated revenue in excess of that figure for the first three months of the year.
This was down to a 19.2% year-on-year decline in table, counter and card games – including sports betting – to $302.1m. Baccarat suffered the biggest decline of all products in this category, with revenue down 54.8% to $54.6m.
Slot revenue, on the other hand, was up 1.5% to $679.7m, largely due to a $299.0m contribution from 1 cent machines.
Clark County, in which Las Vegas is located, accounted for $835.8m of the monthly total, of which $517.3m came from the Las Vegas Strip.