The Las Vegas Grand Prix was a record-breaking event for sportsbooks, despite initially causing controversy and legal issues. Caesars Sportsbooks set a new record for total bets on any motorsport event, with other entities such as BetMGM, Station Casinos, Westgate SuperBook and Red Rock Resort also reporting record handles for an F1 race. The success of the race is expected to be fully understood next month when the Nevada Gaming Control Board releases its monthly report for November.
However, one issue that continues to be debated is the late evening start time of the race. Although it was chosen to minimize disruption to local citizens who have suffered months of track construction headaches, efforts are being made to ensure an earlier start time in the future. The race’s 10pm local start time, which was 1am on the East Coast, caused pushback from drivers and team managers traveling from Europe who called for an earlier start time to help them acclimatize to the time zone.