Despite causing division among locals and facing legal issues, the Las Vegas Grand Prix provided a historic windfall for sportsbooks. Max Verstappen continued his Formula 1 dominance with his 16th win in 17 races, while Caesars Sportsbooks set a new company record for total betting handle on any motorsports event. Similarly, rival entities BetMGM and the local Station Casinos, Westgate SuperBook, and Red Rock Resort reported record handle for an F1 Race.
“It was three times Daytona’s numbers,” Craig Mucklow, Caesars vice president of trading, told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “It was well over seven figures.” BetMGM said it tripled the number of bets for any prior F1 event during the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The full impact of the race on sportsbooks will be more fully understood next month when the Nevada Gaming Control Board releases its monthly report for November. However, there is already debate about the 10 p.m. local start time of the race — 1 a.m. on the East Coast — which remains subject to change in efforts to ensure an earlier start that would be more convenient for both local citizens and drivers traveling from Europe. Several drivers and team executives are pushing for an earlier start to aid their own time-zone acclimation as F1 continues to show growing pains in becoming a truly global sport.