Nevada sportsbooks set new revenue record for third straight year

Nevada casino gambling revenue was up slighly in 2015 despite a slight decrease at Las Vegas Strip casinos.

Figures released Friday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board showed that the state’s casinos earned $11.1b in gambling revenue last year, 0.9% higher than 2014’s total. Strip casinos reported annual revenue down less than 1% to $6.35b, while downtown Vegas casinos gained 6% to $542m and Reno casinos were up 3% to $571m.

Total slot machine revenue came to just over $7b in 2015, up 3.8% from 2014. Baccarat remained the state’s top table game earner in 2015 at nearly $1.29b, although this was down 14.3% year-on-year. Blackjack closed the gap by rising 3% to $1.09b.

Nevada sportsbooks set a new annual revenue record – their third in a row – with $231.8m, up 2.1% from 2014, while handle was up 8.4% to $4.23b (also a record). The gains came despite football winnings falling 27.4% to $82.5m, in large part due to a poor comparison with the 2014 Super Bowl, which earned the books a record $19.7m, while the 2015 game netted a mere $3.3m.