New York has become the powerhouse of the legal sports betting economy in the United States since mobile wagering commenced there in 2022.
However, Nevada, the only bastion of legal sports wagering in the US before the fall of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, maintains its primacy in one noteworthy area. According to a Spectrumetrix MSA study shared with Gaming Today, Nevada led the US in the past calendar year in the amount wagered in the state per capita.
Through the period ending in June, $2,541 had been bet per resident, albeit marking a 3% decrease from the previous year.
New York, which ranked third: $1,071, was up 25%.
These figures can be taken as positive news for both states’ gambling operations and the public programs that benefit from the taxes they generate.
Though the figures are derived using the amount of residents in a state, it can’t and doesn’t reflect the amount wagered by residents. Still, Nevada, a state of just more than three million, seems to be holding its own as a gambling mecca that continues to transform itself into an all-inclusive entertainment destination. Much of the handle derived there could logically be assumed to come from the pockets of tourists before and after taking in shows, haute dining experiences, or playing table games in casinos. The fear of legal sports betting as a national possibility — and now a reality in 38 jurisdictions, including neighboring Arizona and Oregon — that would siphon off once-proprietary West Coast gambling business has not materialized in Nevada.
“Nevada has and will continue to be the sports and entertainment capital of the world,” B Global Advisors managing partner Brendan Bussmann told Gaming Today. “Part of the entertainment experience is sports betting which is part of the overall gaming offering to locals and visitors to the destination.”
The same could be said for the East Coast’s casino gambling oasis before the demise of PASPA: New Jersey. It ranked second in the Spectrumetrix report with $1,461 wagered per capita in a state of 9.2 million, up 32%.
“New Jersey continues to be one of the dominant players in the gaming sector of the competitive East Coast market,” Bussmann said. “Sports betting would not be where it is today if it were not for the efforts of New Jersey.
“The most mature gaming markets in the U.S. continue to play an important role in the sector, including sports betting. They will continue to play a role in the foreseeable future as the stalwarts in the country.”
New York Bronze Finish May Have Gold Lining
As for New York, the Spectrumetrix figure represents a solid third-place effort.
The state’s per capita figure represented a massive increase from the previous year, even as New York legislators continue to slog through the process of expanding beyond four commercial casinos and allowing them to be built downstate where most of the 8.3 million residents live. As the national leader with 16.3% of the domestic handle in June — when it brandished a mobile handle of $1.47 billion in June — New York continues to churn out huge figures. That’s even with the June tabulation representing the state’s lowest since August of 2023.
Small States Logging Large Numbers Per Capita
The Spectrumetrix list makes for interesting parsing when considering smaller states devoid of Las Vegas’ allure as an entertainment and gambling attraction.
Consider Iowa and Kansas, with populations roughly the same as Nevada. Iowa ranked eighth nationally, and Kansas tenth at $817 and $804, respectively. Not to disparage the Buddy Holly crash site in Clear Lake, Iowa, or to discount the Missouri residents who cross the border to bet in Kansas, but that’s not The Strip. So those states’ per capita figures represent strong homegrown interest.
Per Capita US Handle Since June 2024
Spectrumetrix collated its report from data released by states’ gaming control bodies.
Only states that publish data or release data sufficient to make calculations are included:
- Nevada: $2,541 (-3.2% from the previous year)
- New Jersey: $1,461 (+31.5%)
- New York: $1,071 (25.1%)
- Colorado: $1,030 (+16.2%)
- Illinois: $1,018 (+23.1%)
- Massachusetts: $938 (+234%)
- Maryland: $869 (+85.2%)
- Iowa: $817 (+16.6%)
- Arizona: $847 (+7.3%)
- Kansas: $804 (+41%)
- NATIONAL AVERAGE: $762 (+32.3%)
- Wyoming: $761 (+20.8%)
- Louisiana: $726 (+32.1%)
- Virginia: $725 (+22.8%)
- Indiana: $693 (+12.7%)
- Ohio: $676 (108.1%)
- Tennessee: $673 ((+19.5%)
- Pennsylvania: $630 (+13.1%)
- Connecticut: $550 (+27%)
- New Hampshire: $540 (-14.8%)
- Michigan: $521 (+16.7%)
- Kentucky: $471 (launched September, 2023)
- Rhode Island: $419 (-9.9%)
- Washington, DC: $319 (+7.7%)
- West Virginia: $271 (-8.6%)
- Maine: $230 (launched November 2023)
- Oregon: $$194 (+36.1%)
- Arkansas: $160 (+62.8%)
- Vermont: $156 (launched in January)
- Mississippi: $154 (-11.1%)
- North Carolina: $178 (launched in March)
- Delaware: $103 (+132%)
- Montana: $56 (+7.2%)
- South Dakota: $10 (+22%)
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