Nevada sportsbooks suffer first monthly net loss since 2013

Nevada sportsbooks lost $483,000 in June

For the first time since 2013, Nevada sportsbooks are the big losers. According to a report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Nevada sportsbooks lost $483,000 due to the coronavirus pandemic in June, compared to sportsbooks winning $16,587,000 in the same month last year. July 2013 is the last time that Nevada sportsbooks suffered an overall loss. The 2013 loss totaled $548,000.

According to the announcement, the biggest reason for the loss was the lack of football. Obviously there's never any football being played in June, but this is the time of year when, normally, there would be a large amount of futures wagers placed following the conclusion of free agency and the NFL Draft. 

Nevada sportsbooks lost $5,261,000 on football bets last month due to the lack of future bets. In addition, people are cashing in older future tickets from the 2019 season as casinos reopen

Besides the lack of future bets, there also just weren't as much sporting events to bet on in June. Major League Baseball only just got underway earlier in July -- over three months later than usual. There was just $1,388,000 worth of profit for baseball betting in June, compared to over $10 million in June of last year.

The Nevada sportsbooks also saw a huge drop in profit from $83.2 million in 2019 to $59.7 million in 2020 during the first three months of the year in general. The cancelation of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which is one of the biggest betting events of the entire year, is to blame for those numbers.

With the MLB back and the NBA and NHL all returning imminently, sportsbooks should see an increase in profit due to fans being able to bet on marquee sporting events once again. On top of that, the NFL is right around the corner, which also should see a sizable number of bets.