LAS VEGAS – Nevada sports books won $20.173 million from bettors in June, an increase of 27.15% from June 2017, according to figures released Tuesday morning by the state’s Gaming Control Board.
As usual at this time of year, the majority of the books’ win came from baseball, as the books won $11.6 million, though that was down 22% from last June when the books won a record $14.9 million on baseball.
However, the biggest boost came from the “other” category, in which the books won $7.769 million (a whopping 924.14% increase over last year) as the GCB only breaks out numbers for football and basketball in addition to baseball. “Other” includes hockey (so these figures including the NHL expansion Vegas Golden Knights, who lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to the Washington Capital) and also World Cup soccer, which is held every four years.
The Golden Knights lost Games 3 through 5 on June 2, 4 and 7, so the books cleaned up on those games and also had to pay out much less in Washington futures than if the hometown Golden Knights had won the Stanley Cup.
But the books also had their disappointing results as they lost $608,000 on basketball. Most of that came from the Golden State Warriors winning Games 2 through 4 on June 3, 6, and 8 as they swept the Cleveland Cavaliers. That also includes paying out a lot of future-book tickets on the Warriors. The books also lost $280,000 on football; most of that is still from books cashing tickets from last season, though with 166 of the state’s 188 sports books reporting in that category, it’s obvious it also including wagering on the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football League.
The state’s race books won $4.1 million and received a boost from Justify’s Triple Crown bid in the Belmont on June 7. That was a 13.05% increase from June 2017 when there wasn’t a Triple Crown on the line in the Belmont. Thanks to pari-mutuel wagering, the hold percentage is pretty consistent with the books holding 15.6% this June compared to 15.83% in May.
June 2018 Nevada Gaming Figures
Category 2018 Win/Loss %Change Hold%
Overall $20,173,000 27.15 7.04
Football -$280,000 1,042.69 -24.32
Basketball -$608,000 -11,136.97 -1.90
Baseball $11,609,000 -22.03 6.35
Sports Parlay Cards $1,682,000 614.16 26.19
Other* $7,769,000 924.14 12.16
Horse Racing $4,100,000 13.05 15.60
%Change is compared to same month last year
Hold% is percentage the books won/lost from the handle in that category
*Other includes hockey, golf, auto racing and all other sports except for horse racing.