In advance of this weekend’s Super Bowl LII action, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has reportedly declared that the western state’s numerous sports books had an all-time win high of $248.7 million last year off of a hold of 5.1% and a record aggregated handle of $4.8 billion.
According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, the win for 2017 surpassed the previous best established two years ago by nearly $17 million while handle has now improved for eight straight years after reaching $2.5 billion for 2009.
“The mobile app has really brought the sports book to the palm of your hand,” Chuck Esposito, Sports Book Director for Sunset Stations Race and Sports Book, reportedly told the newspaper. “That’s really helped contribute to the increase in handle across the board.”
The newspaper reported that last year saw sports books in Nevada note $1.7 billion in wagers on professional and collegiate games of American football while the figure for basketball was not far behind at $1.4 billion. In terms of win, the former accounted for $76.8 million while the latter came in at $87.4 million. The 2017 handle for the nation’s ‘national pastime’, baseball, purportedly reached an all-time high of $1.1 billion with its win hitting $36.8 million.
“You look at the college basketball tournament and the overall atmosphere of the books [and] it’s contagious throughout the casino,” Esposito reportedly told the newspaper. “It’s become a bigger part of what we have to provide.”
For December, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Nevada’s sportsbetting establishments had win of $34.5 million, which represented a 53rd consecutive successful month, although handle decreased to $280.3 million.