The house doesn’t always win.
It didn’t in December, when football bettors beat Nevada sportsbooks out of $2.1 million.
It was the first monthly loss suffered by the books during the NFL regular season in 12 years. It also was only their 13th losing month during the regular season since 1988, when the Nevada Gaming Control Board began tracking the action.
The last losing month was in November 2012, when sportsbooks gave back $5.3 million, according to figures released by the Control Board.
The betting public cashed in on NFL favorites, which won at a sizzling 78.1 percent clip (57-16) in December and covered the spread at a 60.3 percent clip (44-29 ATS).
“Overall, it was a losing pro football month. We really only had one winning week out of the five for our side of the counter,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said.
Michael Lawton, the Control Board’s senior research analyst, said December’s results were not a surprise to the board based on favorites winning and covering at a high clip, and on sportsbook giant FanDuel’s recent update to its financial outlook.
Flutter Entertainment, which owns FanDuel (which doesn’t operate in Nevada), recently said a period of “very unfavorable U.S. sports results” caused a drop in its expected 2024 revenue of $370 million.
Nevada sportsbooks still won $15 million overall in December, thanks to a $15 million win on basketball.
Favorites won 72.1 percent of NFL games this season (196-76) overall for their highest winning percentage since 2005 (74.9 percent) and second-highest since 1976 (73.3 percent).
“After Week 5, favorites hit at a 76 percent clip. Overall, that contributed to a little bit of a down year in pro football,” Esposito said. “But we celebrate the bettors for doing a great job. The guests backed the favorites, and they did really well on them.”
Favorites covered 54.1 percent of games (145-123-4 ATS) this season for their highest cover rate since 2005 (58.9 percent) and second-highest since 1985 (55.8).
The NFL season started in record-setting fashion for Nevada sportsbooks in an upset-filled September, when they won $55.8 million on football — their second-highest monthly win ever ($56 million in November 2020) — and $80.9 million overall, their biggest monthly win ever.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at [email protected]. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
