Even the thrills of the NBA playoffs haven’t managed to whet the appetite of sports bettors.

Gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming found that the NBA’s total betting handle decreased about 10% year-over-year, according to data from online sportsbooks in Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and Oregon.

Despite the waning interest, revenue was slightly up 1% during the same time.

Revenue rises, handle drops?

A post shared on X from ESPN betting analyst David Payne Purdum shared Eilers & Krejcik’s findings.

The report noted that “macro and sports-specific trends” impacted the declining dollar amount for NBA wagers.

It also said that the falling handle and rising revenue did not happen by accident. Rather, sportsbooks shifted their focus to low-stake, high-hold markets such as same-game parlays.

The standard "vig," the fee charged by sportsbooks for accepting a wager, on straight bets allows sportsbooks to win an average of about $.05 per dollar wagered. Those margins shoot to between $.20 and $.30 per dollar with parlays due to the increasing vig and the lower likelihood the bettor win, making them more profitable for operators.

Here’s an example of that in action:

Let’s assume that 50 bettors wager $10 on Team A to win a game at -110 odds, and another 50 bet Team B at -105 odds. Regardless of who wins, the sportsbook will pay $954.50 on $1,000 in total wagers, giving them $45.50 in profit (4.6% hold).

Now, let’s pretend 100 bettors all bet $2 on a same-game parlay with +1,000 odds. Those odds imply a 9.09% probability without the vig. With the vig, it would bring that closer to 8%.

Eight winners of +1,000 odds would mean eight payments of $22, or $176 in total payouts on $500 in bets. That’s a $24 profit and 13.6% hold for the house.

At that point, sportsbooks would just need to attract enough customers to their parlay odds to make the revenue jump even with a smaller handle.

Why the decline?

Simple math, in all likelihood, isn’t the only reason that NBA betting was down.

There’s been widespread discontent with diehard fans over the way basketball is covered by analysts and former players. Michael Jordan, who will be a “special contributor” on NBC’s NBA coverage next season, reportedly said he was joining the action to stop the hatred toward current players and to help the game progress.

Another explanation is that games aren’t as competitive as they once were. There was a difference of 24.9 points per 100 possessions between the best team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the worst team, the Washington Wizards.

That’s 24.5% more than it was 10 years ago when 20 points per 100 possessions separated the Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks.

It’s also 36.1% above where it was five years ago when the Milwaukee Bucks and Warriors were separated by 18 points per 100 possessions.

The data isn’t only relevant at the extremes. The fifth best and fifth worst teams this year were separated by 12.2 points per 100 possessions, while there was a 10.7-point gap between those teams in 2014-15.

That might not sound like much, but it’s a 14% change. That would be the same as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander raising his scoring average from 32.7 points to 37.3 points per game.

The repeated blowouts and constant drama involving “load management” also could have an effect, with casual viewers losing interest in games and their betting odds.

That can already be seen in NBA Finals odds, where the Oklahoma City Thunder are -750 favorites to beat either the Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks.