Sports books in Nevada saw an all-time high $458 million bet in March, of which $422 million was bet on basketball, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Nevada doesn’t break down the bets between pro and college, but the report said that it’s estimated that 70 percent of the wagers were on the March Madness tournament.
Though the handle was huge, sports books won just $9.7 million, for a hold percentage of 2.1 percent. Revenue from sports betting was down 47.7 percent year-over-year.
Last year, Nevada sports books took $4.2 billion in bets, which, according to research from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, was an all-time high for the Silver State casino industry. It was the first time ever that the handle surpassed $4 billion.
Of those wagers, roughly $1.7 billion was on football, $1.25 billion was on basketball and $897 million was on baseball. Nevada sports books won 5.47 percent of those wagers for $231.8 million in revenue, also the best ever for the sports books.
So far this year, $363 million was wagered in February and roughly $450 million was wagered in January (the previous record). Combine those totals with March’s record handle, and Nevada is on pace for another record-breaking year for sports betting.
January was aided by a record $132.5 million bet on the Super Bowl.
According to the American Gaming Association, nationwide betting on March Madness was worth $9.2 billion this year, most coming through illegal channels.
The AGA is pushing for federal reform on sports betting. AGA CEO Geoff Freeman said last month that “the next president is going to have that issue of legalizing sports betting on their desk, and I’m confident they’ll make the right decision.”
A 1990s federal law limited sports betting to Nevada and a few other states, with the Silver State being the only one in the country with sports books. New Jersey has tried challenging the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act so it can have sports betting in Atlantic City.
The AGA also has said that the sports betting market in America grew to $148.8 billion in 2015, with only $4.2 billion of those wagers happening at licensed sports books in Nevada.
Delaware, which has limited sports betting in the form of parlays, is looking at bringing those bets to the Internet to boost its revenue from the games.
The growing popularity of wagering on sports has even prompted the NFL to consider re-visiting its notorious anti-gambling stance. In an interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike last week, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that he has “evolved a little on gambling.”
Congress will hold a hearing later this month on daily fantasy sports sites, which many consider a form of online sports betting. The hearing on Capitol Hill will more than likely hit on the possibility of blanket federal sports betting legislation.
