DEADWOOD, S.D. – According to statistics released today by the South Dakota Commission on Gaming, the October 2021 gaming handle showed a 20.54 percent increase over October 2020, fueled by $815,037 in sports wagering handle, with slot machine handle increasing by 18.84 percent when compared to October 2020.
The table game handle increased by 34.35 percent when compared to 2020 October’s table game handle.
Deadwood gaming operators rewarded players with $1,333,441 in “free-play” for the month of September, leaving taxable adjusted gross revenues of $11,709,068 for October of 2021. Deadwood’s October YTD numbers put 2021 revenues up 37.85% over 2020 and up 30.29% over 2019, the last full year of gaming revenues.
“With a full month of sports wagering revenues and a fifth sports book open in the final few days of October, we are seeing the positive impacts of sports wagering,” said Mike Rodman, executive director of the Deadwood Gaming Association.
“Sports wagering handle surpassed craps handle and came close to matching the combined handle of craps and roulette in October.”
Deadwood’s sports bettors in October wagered 87.7% of their total wagers on the NFL and NCAA football.
