Official Data · Nevada Gaming Control Board
Nevada Sports Betting Revenue 2025
How much was wagered on sport in Nevada in 2025, how much sportsbooks kept, and the mobile-vs-retail story — using official figures from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
$7.1B
Total amount wagered (handle)
▼ ~12% vs 2024
~$510M
Sportsbook revenue (win)
▲ above 2024 · best hold since 2018
~7.2%
Annual hold (win ÷ handle)
▲ highest post-PASPA
~72%
Placed on mobile apps
retail still ~28%
Handle, revenue & hold — what they mean
Sports betting has its own vocabulary. Three numbers matter, and they're often confused.
Handle is the total amount bettors wagered — every dollar placed, win or lose. Revenue (also called "win" or GGR) is what sportsbooks keep after paying out winning bets. Hold is revenue divided by handle, shown as a percentage — effectively the house's take rate. In 2025 Nevada bettors wagered about $7.1 billion (handle), sportsbooks kept roughly 7.2% of it (hold), leaving them with somewhere in the region of $510 million in revenue before expenses.
Handle over the last five years
Total amount wagered on sport in Nevada, by calendar year. Note the steady decline as dozens of other states have legalised betting since 2018.
Total handle ($ billions)
Figures rounded from NGCB annual data. 2020 was affected by pandemic shutdowns and the sports calendar pause.
Why is Nevada's handle falling?
It looks counter-intuitive — sports betting is booming nationally, yet Nevada's handle has slipped for three years running. The reason is competition, not decline: when the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban (PASPA) in 2018, Nevada was almost the only legal market. Since then around 39 states have legalised betting, so a bettor in Ohio, New York or Missouri no longer needs to place their wager in Nevada. Nevada hasn't seen a monthly handle top $1 billion since January 2022. The silver lining for operators: a strong hold of ~7.2% — the best since PASPA fell — meant 2025 revenue still edged above 2024 despite fewer dollars wagered.
Mobile vs. retail
The defining shift in Nevada betting — but with a local twist.
72%
MOBILE APPS
28%
RETAIL
Mobile — bet placed on a phone or computer
Retail — bet placed in person at a sportsbook
| Channel | Share of handle (2025) | Trend |
|---|
| Mobile apps | ~72% | ▲ rising |
| Retail sportsbooks (in person) | ~28% | ▼ declining |
Nevada's mobile twist: unlike newer online-first states, Nevada requires you to register in person at a licensed casino sportsbook before you can bet from your phone. Mobile still dominates once you're set up (about 72% of all wagers), but that in-person sign-up step keeps Nevada's retail sportsbook culture alive in a way most states have lost.
Which sports drive the betting?
Nevada allows wagering on virtually everything, including college sport and in-state teams like UNLV. But the calendar is dominated by a few.
| Sport | Role in the handle |
|---|
| Football (NFL & college) | The undisputed king — drives the biggest months (Sept–Jan) |
| Basketball (NBA & college) | Second biggest; March Madness & the NBA playoffs are huge |
| Baseball (MLB) | The summer workhorse, filling the gap between seasons |
| Hockey, and "other" | Smaller, but events like the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix spike "other" |
The football effect: Nevada's betting year is powerfully seasonal. The strongest months cluster around football season — November 2025 was the single best month of the year, with about $908 million wagered and roughly $73 million in sportsbook revenue, boosted both by the NFL/college football peak and by the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix drawing crowds to the city.
Key facts about Nevada sports betting
| First legalised | 1949 — the oldest regulated sports betting market in the United States |
| Mobile launched | 2010 — but in-person registration at a casino is required first |
| Tax rate | 6.75% of gross gaming revenue — one of the lowest in the country |
| Regulators | Nevada Gaming Control Board & Nevada Gaming Commission |
| College betting | Permitted, including on in-state teams (UNLV, Nevada Wolf Pack) |
| Minimum age | 21 or older |
Low tax, by design: Nevada's 6.75% sportsbook tax is far below newer markets — New York taxes online betting at 51%. Nevada keeps its rate low to protect the land-based casino model that sports betting was built to support. It means less tax per dollar, but a healthier ecosystem of physical sportsbooks.
Can visitors bet in Nevada?
Yes — anyone 21 or older can bet at a Nevada sportsbook, resident or visitor. You can walk into any casino sportsbook and place a retail bet immediately. To bet on your
phone, though, you must first
register in person at a licensed casino sportsbook (a quick one-time step), after which you can wager from anywhere within state lines. You must be physically located in Nevada to place a mobile bet — the apps use geolocation to enforce this. For the official rules, see our
gaming revenue page and the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Source:
Nevada Gaming Control Board monthly & annual Gaming Revenue reports (2025 data), with historical figures from NGCB and UNLV Center for Gaming Research. Figures are rounded; annual revenue is estimated from reported handle and hold.