How the 2025 Las Vegas GP Became Formula 1’s Biggest Betting Bonanza Yet
Las Vegas—When Max Verstappen crossed the finish line under the glowing Sphere at 11:07 p.m. on November 22, 2025, he didn’t just win the third Las Vegas GP. He cashed the single biggest ticket in Nevada sports-betting history for Formula 1—and helped the books keep most of the rest.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Three days after the checkered flag, the numbers are still being tallied, but the verdict is unanimous: the 2025 race demolished every F1 wagering record in the books—literally.
BetMGM reported a 51% increase in total handle over its previous Las Vegas GP record set in 2024, with three times as many individual tickets and four times the average handle of a normal F1 weekend. Caesars Sportsbook posted a 30% jump in money wagered year-over-year. Station Casinos’ STN Sports app “shattered” its own F1 marks for the third consecutive November, according to vice president of race and sports Chuck Esposito.
“This was the biggest Formula 1 betting event we’ve ever had—by a mile,” said Tristan Davis, BetMGM trading manager. “And the scary part for us? Verstappen winning was actually the absolute worst result on the board.”
From Niche to Neon Phenomenon
When Formula 1 first roared down the Strip in 2023, the sport was still a curiosity in American sportsbooks. That debut race instantly rewrote the record books: Caesars took in more than $1 million on a single auto-racing event for the first time ever, and BetMGM saw triple the volume of any previous grand prix.
2024 doubled those figures again. By the time gates opened for 2025, traders weren’t asking if Las Vegas would set another record—only by how much.
They got their answer quickly. Opening liability reports on Thursday showed Verstappen accounting for 33.6% of BetMGM’s total handle and 22.7% of all tickets. At Caesars, the Dutchman carried similar exposure at shortened +175 odds. Books spent the week praying for a long-shot podium.
They never needed the prayer.
Verstappen led flag-to-flag, Lando Norris chased him home in second (later to be disqualified), and Oscar Piastri survived a late McLaren strategy gamble to finish fourth (also later disqualified). The three drivers who entered the weekend as the top three betting liabilities finished exactly where the money expected them to. For once, the favorites delivered—and the sportsbooks exhaled.
“It’s rare you get a result that’s bad on paper but still feels like a win,” said Craig Mucklow, Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading. “We needed one of the big three. We got all three. That’s about as good as it gets when you’re holding this much chalk.”
The Strip Becomes Football Sunday
Inside the sportsbooks along Las Vegas Boulevard, the scene felt more Super Bowl than grand prix. The Westgate SuperBook reported lines out the door by 3 p.m. local time — seven hours before lights-out. Bellagio’s book turned into a de facto watch party, complete with $1,500 bottles of Dom Pérignon flowing every time a live bet hit.
In-play wagering, still relatively new to American F1 bettors in 2023, exploded. BetMGM recorded its highest-ever volume of live Formula 1 bets, fueled by same-game parlays tying fastest lap, podium finish, and positions gained.
“One guy built a +45000 parlay on Verstappen win, no safety car, and under 58.5 laps,” Davis laughed. “We paid it. He posed with the ticket in front of the Bellagio fountains at 2 a.m.”
By the Numbers: Three Years of Explosive Growth
| Year | BetMGM Handle Growth | Caesars Growth | STN Sports Result | Profitability for Books |
| 2023 | 3× any prior F1 race | Record auto-racing handle (> $1M) | New F1 high | Mixed |
| 2024 | +100% over 2023 | Significant increase | Shattered previous marks | Mixed (upsets hurt) |
| 2025 | +51% over 2024 | +30% over 2024 | “Shattered again” | Strong (favorites win) |
The Bigger Picture
The 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix didn’t just set betting records; it cemented Formula 1 as a legitimate Tier-1 betting sport in the United States—something unthinkable five years ago.
Nevada sportsbooks now routinely hang more than 120 pre-race markets on a single grand prix, from head-to-head driver matchups to “Will Lewis Hamilton finish in the points?” props at -1600. DraftKings and FanDuel both reported Las Vegas GP as their most-bet motorsport event of the calendar year, eclipsing even the Indianapolis 500.
And the ceiling keeps rising.
“As long as the race stays on the Strip, with the lights and the celebrities and the energy, this will only get bigger,” Esposito said Sunday morning, still counting tickets. “We’re already talking about how to expand the books for next year.”
Somewhere in the Netherlands, Max Verstappen woke up a winner on the track. In Las Vegas, the sportsbooks woke up winners off it.
For one glittering weekend in the desert, everybody cashed.
