Handle Down at Nevada Sportsbooks

April was a decent month for casinos in the state of Nevada. But it was a slightly different matter for the state’s sportsbooks. Handle – the total amount wagered – was down roughly $5 million from April, 2016. There was some good news in that revenue was $15.1 million on the $287 million wagered. That was an increase from the $13.5 million in 2016. But sportsbooks don’t like to see decreases in handle since that is typically how they make its money. Not only that, March set a an all-time record for handle due to basketball bets. The sportsbooks would have fared better but was still paying off some winning tickets from football season which amounted to more than $4.5 million.

Sportsbooks made a nice bit of change from baseball bettors, as the $10.16 million won is an all-time high for the month. It’s $119.5 million handle was down from last year but still No. 2 all-time. The last two years have seen Nevada sportsbooks generate more than $300 million in betting handle. The NBA playoffs have been the main culprit, but it remains to be seen how this year will stack up with another rematch between Cleveland and Golden State.

Overall, gaming revenue showed an increase of almost 1.2 percent over April of 2016. Nevada casinos reported revenue of $886,528,810 to the Gaming Control Board. That is still down from March’s huge 7.45 percent increase, although much of that was fueled by NCAA Tournament betting.

Revenue from casinos located on the Las Vegas Strip was down from last year. This year the revenue was 475,375,212, compared to last year’s $491,369,187.

One of the main reasons is the big-money game baccarat. Last April, the hold on baccarat was 18.1 percent and just 13.1 percent this year. When somebody is wagering $100,000 or more per hand that 5 percent adds up quickly.

Reno is on a downward trend and gaming revenue was down 4.8 percent from last year.