Casino sportsbooks in Nevada posted their first losing NFL month in four years in January.
On Tuesday 28th February, the Nevada Gaming Control Board revealed that statewide gaming revenue for the first month of 2017 was $1.04 billion. This was an impressive 12% up on figures for the same time last year, and the first time the Silver State topped the $1 billion mark since last July.
Takings particularly sunny on the Vegas Strip
As one might expect, the year-on-year gains were higher on the Las Vegas Strip. That said, Downtown Vegas was also in very good shape financially.
The NGCB attributed the January gains to the timing of the Chinese New Year celebrations which lead to a huge influx of Asian gamblers.
Shock football results sting Nevada sportsbooks
So what went wrong on the football front? According to CalvinAyre, the sportsbooks were hit by a brace of NFL favourites going 9/1 against the spread during the playoffs.
The NCAA Clemson v Alabama fixture, on the other hand, was said to have yielded the worst ever results for certain Nevada bookmakers.
The fact that football proved such a bust was that much more agonising given that January was a superb month for basketball wagering. Indeed, revenue for the month was up over 78% year-on-year.
