On Wednesday, April 1, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak formally initiated a “Stay at Home” directive for Nevada residents. He also extended the closure of non-essential business, gaming, and school closures under his earlier Emergency Declaration to April 30.
The soonest Nevada casinos will be able to open is May 1. Previously Nevada casinos were looking at a one month closure beginning April 18.
This Emergency Declaration has a bit more forceful tone from the Governor. Ultimately Nevada residents will still be able to go outside for fresh air and visit essential businesses like grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, etc. Restaurants can remain open for orders to go, curbside pickup, and delivery.
Nevada Gambling Options
While brick and mortar casinos are closed there are still a few ways to gamble. There are still four mobile sportsbooks and one online poker website operating.
Betting on current sports is limited to fringe events like foreign table tennis (ping pong), small league foreign soccer, and international esports. In fact, shortly after Governor Sisolak’s Stay at Home announcement, the Nevada Gaming Control Board approved a new wave of Counter-Strike esports betting.
While there aren’t live US professional sporting events happening, Nevada sportsbooks are looking ahead with multiple futures betting options. Two weeks ago Circa Sports was the first Nevada sportsbook to release NFL season win totals. William Hill has since followed with its own offering for NFL season win totals.
All sportsbook operators are using this time to focus on futures betting options since nobody knows when US sports will resume. At this point, all sports starting up are dependent on the spread of coronavirus slowing down.
There’s one more gambling option available for who aren’t sports bettors. In addition to mobile sports betting with BetMGM, Caesars, Circa Sports, and William Hill the poker site WSOP.com is still open in Nevada.
NFL Draft Betting In Nevada
The closure of non-essential businesses in Nevada due to coronavirus led to the NFL canceling the 2020 Draft. The event was slated to take place next to Caesars Forum behind Harrah’s and The Linq casinos. There’s talk that the NFL Draft could take place in Las Vegas in a couple of years.
Despite the cancelation of the live event, the NFL will still go forward with the 2020 draft. This might end up being the most popular year for the NFL Draft in Nevada sportsbooks. All four mobile sports wagering apps are offering NFL Draft proposition bets. For what it’s worth, BetMGM and William Hill have the most prop bets available.
There are three players who have attracted at least 90% of the total number of tickets on one side of their draft position prop at William Hill:
92% of tickets have Iowa offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs being drafted UNDER 8.5
91% of tickets have Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy being drafted UNDER 12.5
91% of tickets have Louisville offensive tackle Mekhi Becton being drafted OVER 7.5
Being drafted “under” a number means bring picked earlier in the draft. For example, 91% of bettors are wagering that Jerry Jeudy will be drafted 1-12 and before 13. There has been so much money wagered on the over for Mekhi Becton that his draft position prop has moved from over/under 4.5 to over/under 7.5.
You can see a full list of NFL prop bets from William Hill here.
The post Nevada Casinos To Remain Closed Until At Least May 1 appeared first on Play Nevada.