The Las Vegas Grand Prix proved to be a historic windfall for sportsbooks, despite facing legal issues and causing division among locals. Despite the controversy, the race set a new company record for total betting handle on any motorsports event, with Caesars Sportsbooks reporting over seven figures in handle.
Rival entities BetMGM and the local Station Casinos, Westgate SuperBook, and Red Rock Resort also reported record handle for an F1 race. Craig Mucklow, Caesars vice president of trading, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the racing event was three times Daytona’s numbers. 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.
The 10 p.m. local start time of the race remains a subject of debate, as efforts are already in motion to ensure an earlier start. While several drivers and team executives are pushing for an earlier start to aid their own time-zone acclimation traveling from Europe, others argue that it would cause disruption to local citizens who have endured months of headaches due to track construction.