Sports wagering produced some interesting results for Nevada sportsbooks in December, and overall, the Nevada gaming industry continued to flex its muscles.

The betting handle on sporting events was down compared to both November 2022 and compared to the same month in the previous year, revenues skyrocketed.

But for all of 2022, total sports betting handle in Nevada was a record $8.7 billion, up 6.8% from 2021 (about $8.15 billion); in the previous year the industry was still feeling the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on visitation. For the year, total sports betting revenue was almost $446.7 million, up 6.9% from 2021 ($417.91 million). In 2022, the sports wagering hold was a relatively typical 5.13%.

Regarding monthly sports betting handle, the December total was about $880.4 million, down 5.2% from November ($929 million) in a month-over-month comparison and also down about 13.3% from December 2021 (about $1 billion).

However, sports betting revenue for the final month was a little more than $55.2 million, an increase of 46.5% from the Nevada November betting revenue of $37.67 million. Last month was also up 245.9% in a year-over-year comparison with December 2021 ($15.96 million). 

The December 2022 hold wasn’t particularly extraordinary at about 6.3%, but it was far better for the state’s sportsbooks than the previous month (about 4% hold) and from the same month in 2021 (an extremely low 1.6%).

Mobile sports betting handle was 68.5% of total handle in December. The mobile wagering handle of $603 million in 2022’s final month was down 6.0% from November ($641.7 million) and a 21.2% dip from 12 months earlier ($765 million).

Nevada does not permit online registration for sports betting apps, a policy that’s a drag on online sports betting activity. Plus, the appeal of destination physical sportsbooks in Las Vegas draws a large amount of tourist betting action as well as some local handle, despite the state’s lack of the best online casino options.

Among sports, football was the runaway leader in handle in December with $481.83 million in wagers, followed by basketball with $271.32 million in bets.

Despite larger economic issues, such as inflation, Nevada’s overall gaming industry keeps rolling along. 

The total gaming win in December was over $1.31 billion, according to the Nevada Gaming Commission. Of that, nearly $814.2 million was generated on the Last Vegas Strip. Downtown Vegas casinos generated $66.77 million in revenues.

December’s total gaming revenue was a 14.3% increase over the same month in 2021, and December 2022 was the 22nd straight month that gaming revenues have hit the billion-dollar mark.

Nevada finished 2022 with $14.84 billion in total gaming revenue, a record for the Silver State.

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