Nevada Tops U.S. Sports Betting Handle for First Time in 14 Months

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images. Pictured: Las Vegas Westgate SuperBook

For the first time in 14 months, Nevada is once again the king of sports gambling.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Thursday published February sports handle at $554.3 million, besting both Pennsylvania ($509.5 million) and New Jersey ($494.8 million)

Hindered by the pandemic, lack of tourism and in-person mobile registration requirements, Nevada was No. 2 to New Jersey in every month of 2020. Sports handle was down 19 percent versus the year before in Las Vegas while New Jersey did $6.3 billion in handle on the year.

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The last month the state led was December 2019 when Nevada had $571.1 million in sports bets to New Jersey’s $557.8 million.

Nevada’s win is remarkable because 43 percent of the money in February was bet in-person. Less than 12 percent of the money bet on sports in New Jersey came from in-person bets.

February featured another shocker. New Jersey fell to No. 3 in a month for the first time since the state started offering sports gambling in the summer of 2018, with the usual No. 3 Pennsylvania beating the Garden State out by about $15 million in bets on the month.

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