Nevada is still the king of American sports betting. While the New Jersey gambling industry is on the rise and keeps breaking revenue records, a recent report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board showed that NV took in $543.9 million in wagers in the month of October compared to NJ’s $487.9 million handle.
The Nevada figures mark a year-on-year increase of 2.9% for October. Total betting revenue for the state’s 100-plus sportsbooks came in at $49.7 million for an increase of some 62.1% compared to October 2018.
Those strong numbers for Nevada sportsbooks are largely due to the college and professional football seasons entering their second full month. Another big factor was the drawn-out conclusion of the Major League Baseball campaign, with World Series betting heightened as the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals went to seven games.
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New Jersey bested Nevada’s sports betting handle for three of four months between May and August this year, leading many in the industry to declare the Garden State as the new gambling mecca of the USA. NJ has taken a big bite out of Nevada’s business since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was struck down last year, but the last two months have shown that the Silver State is still the one to beat.
In May 2019, around 10 months after New Jersey legalized sports wagering, NJ edged out Nevada in sports wagers taken for the months of May, July, and August. When the football season rolled around in September, however, Nevada took in $538.2 million in wagers while New Jersey took in $445.6 million.
It was no surprise that football ruled the roost in terms of wagers taken for the month of October. The sportsbooks in Nevada took in $355.7 million in football bets, while baseball was a distant second at $82.9 million. In October the Nevada books had a basketball handle of $36.1 million and all other sports combined for a total of $58.4 million, with parlay wagers accounting for $10.7 million.