Nevada sportsbooks had an awful month in May, losing $4.4m within the game of basketball. Sportsbooks in the state actually saw their worst month ever when it comes to basketball losses. The last time a record was set for losses involving basketball came twenty years ago in 1997 when $3.5m was lost.

As reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal, Nevada Gaming Control Board research analyst, Michael Lawton, commented on the newly released sports betting numbers yesterday by stating that the books were ‘hammered’ with the public loading up on their favorite and over during the recent NBA playoffs.

The loss was a result of an extended streak of NBA playoff top teams covering the spread, with major contributors being the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. The two teams dominated the competition, with the sports books seeing their worst loss month to date because of their performance.

For the month of May, the sports books of Nevada were still able to see a win, with $2.9 million earned. The win was mainly due to a baseball win of $6.6 million. Looking back at totals from March, sportsbooks were quite successful in basketball wagers, earning a total of $41.3 million, a very drastic difference from the May totals.