Dave Tuley
VSiN.com senior reporter
LAS VEGAS – Nevada sports books won $21.6 million from bettors in April, an increase of 32.68% from April 2018, according to figures released Wednesday morning by the state’s Gaming Control Board.
Nearly half of the book’s winning came from $10 million on baseball, which was a 41.88% increase from last April. It’s interesting to note that last April’s win was down 35.35% from April 2017, so this April’s win is basically back in line with two years ago.
The “other” category – which includes hockey and all other sports except for football, basketball, baseball and horse racing – was the second biggest winner for the books at nearly $8.6 million, an increase of a whopping 123.52% from April 2017. That can be attributed to the fact that last year the bettors were all over the Vegas Golden Knights last April when they were starting their run to the Stanley Cup Finals; however, this April they were eliminated by the San Jose Sharks in the first round.
The Arena Football League kicked off on April 26, but as I've written several times, the football “losses” this time of year are mostly from bettors cashing tickets from last fall and winter. The football “loss” was nearly $4.8 million, which was actually 22.55% better than last April.
Horse racing handle and win continues its recent decline as the hold percentage is around it’s normal 15.36% (due to pari-mutuel wagering), but the statewide win of $2.5 million was down 12.4% percent from last April. We’ll have to wait until the May figures come out to see the impact of the Kentucky Derby disqualification and a Preakness without the Derby winner compared to last year’s Triple Crown run by Justify.
April 2019 Nevada Gaming Figures
Category Win/Loss %Change Hold%
Overall $21,656,000 32.68 6.60
Football -$4,797,000 22.55 -1,104.56
Basketball $7,833,000 -14.58 6.03
Baseball $10,015,000 41.88 7.38
Sports Parlay Cards $13,000 -92.17 7.51
Other* $8,592,000 123.52 13.90
Horse Racing $2,519,000 -12.40 15.36
%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.