Nevada domestic sportsbooks have reportedly surpassed over $5 billion in legal sports bets for 2018. This news comes despite many states now seeking to allow domestic sports betting within their state lines.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States repealed the Professional and Amature Sports Protection Act better known as the PASPA act. The PASPA act was a federal ban on sports betting that affected 46 of 50 states. The PASPA act effectively banned states from enacting sports betting legislation for 26 years. Only a couple of states like Nevada that already had sports betting laws in place before 1992 were allowed to offer domestic sports betting.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, bettors placed more wagers in 2018 than any other year since 1988. The previous net win record for Nevada sportsbooks was $248.7 million. 2018 produced the highest net win record to date of $301 million.
Over the last nine years, the amount wagered on sports has increased to record levels. A senior research analyst, Michael Lawton, accredits the increase to a good economy and an increase in sports betting popularity. Lawton told reports that “The state continues to see more regional and national tourists seek out the sports book when they visit properties, this can be attributed to the continued national press stories and the unique experience Nevada casinos offer for sports betting, including the Super Bowl and March Madness.”
Football was the most wagered on sporting event for domestic sportsbooks in Nevada accruing more than $1.8 billion in bets, but the state also set records in basketball and baseball betting.
What makes the record so interesting is the fact that this is the first year states have had the right to enact sports betting legislation with no federal gambling laws restricting them. So far seven other states have enacted sports betting laws including New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, West Virginia, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania.
In the coming years, more states are expected to enact sports betting laws that could affect tourism to Sin City. States such as New Jersey have already handled more than a billion in sports bets since they launched legal sports betting in June 2018.
Art Manteris is a seasoned Las Vegas bookmaker and the vice president at Stations Casino. He says that Nevada sports betting has not missed a beat and with March Madness around the corner he has seen no evidence that other states have imposed on Nevada sports betting revenue.
