Nevada Sports Betting Handle Lags Behind New Jersey Again As Gap Continues to Grow

Nevada Sports Betting Handle Lags Behind New Jersey Again As Gap Continues to Grow article feature image
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Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for William Hill Race & Sports Bar. Pictured: NJ Governor Phil Murphy

New Jersey scored its second-biggest victory ever over Nevada in September — besting the nation's (former) sports betting capital by $173 million in handle for the month.

On Wednesday morning, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced its sports betting handle of $575.2 million for September, a huge divide between that state and New Jersey, which pulled in $748.5 million, an all-time record by any state.

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The Garden State has now beaten Nevada in sports betting handle every single month of 2020. Adding up the eight months reported, $748.4 million more has been bet in the state of New Jersey than Nevada and that doesn't include April for either state, when Nevada chose not to report numbers.

Last year, when New Jersey began beating out Nevada in sports betting handle, it was a close call.

Not this year. In June, New Jersey bested Nevada by $86.8 million. In July? $151.5 million.

In August, New Jersey trounced Nevada in handle by $193 million ($667.9 million compared to Nevada's $474.9 million).

New Jersey's advantage is in online betting; approximately 90% of the bets there are made online. Only 55% of bets made in Nevada in September were on mobile.

Nevada is hampered by COVID-19 and the lack of foot traffic in its Las Vegas casinos, of course.

But customers in Nevada are still required to register in person to open an online account with a sportsbook, adding friction to the sign-up process. New Jersey residents, on the other hand, can sign up at more than a dozen sportsbooks in just a few minutes at home.

Since New Jersey took its first sports bet in June 2018, the state has taken $9.1 billion in bets, while Nevada has brought in $10.7 billion.

New Jersey has a shot to get to $5 billion in bets in 2020, up from $4.5 billion in 2019. The all-time record for yearly sports betting handle is owned by Nevada with last year's total of $5.3 billion.

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