Super Bowl bets more than double to 80.1M with 95% online users growth; Nevada hits $179.8M record handle

Nevada sportsbooks took in a record $179.8 million in wagers on Sunday's Super Bowl LVI, smashing the state’s four-year-old previous record for the annual NFL championship game by more than $21 million, and scoring an 8% profit at $15.4 million in revenues, the fourth-highest Super Bowl revenue total going back to 1991. This was just one of the markets that showed the success of online sports betting during the iconic sporting event across the U.S.

Los Angeles Rams' 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals topped the previous record for bets in Nevada, which was $158.58 million on the 2018 title game. The Nevada Gaming Control Board said Monday the unaudited total wagers were almost $44 million more than a year ago, when operating restrictions stemming from the pandemic tamped down visitation during the normally busy Super Bowl weekend. 

“This year there was a normal Super Bowl party environment with COVID-19 restrictions including mask requirements being lifted,” Control Board Senior Economic Analyst Michael Lawton said, as reported by The Nevada Independent.

In nationwide terms, GeoComply, which provides geolocation data for the gaming industry, reported on Monday that it had identified more than 80.1 million transactions related to the Super Bowl over the weekend, well over double (2.26x) the number for the 2021 Super Bowl. And since Friday at midnight, approximately 5.6 million unique accounts accessed legal online sportsbooks, a 95% increase from last year.

David Grolman, senior vice president of retail operations for Caesars Sportsbook, noted that Super Bowl events at all of Caesars Entertainment’s nine Strip-area resorts were sold out, with 106 total sports betting ticket writer stations on the Strip. 

BetMGM said a record number of first-time users signed up to its app on Sunday, and that it handled twice as many bets as it did during last year’s Super Bowl. “We’re encouraged by strong results over the weekend, with Super Bowl LVI being the most bet on Super Bowl to date,” said Adam Greenblatt, CEO of BetMGM, as reported by Financial Times. He added that New York accounted for the most digital bets for any state.

In the case of Penn National Gaming, the Pennsylvania-based said that Super Bowl was “a record” in total number of bets, the amount of money wagered, and unique daily bettors for its Barstool Sportsbook platform.

Sportsbook operators said the final outcome in Sunday’s game boosted the revenue amount. Jimmy Vaccaro, oddsmaker for South Point Casino, said the books needed the Rams to win but not cover the 4½-point spread and the game finishing under a total of 48½ points. Vaccaro said the South Point’s overall Super Bowl wagering was “slightly larger than a year ago.”

This year's Super Bowl was the first since New York state legalized online sports betting, on January 8. This market has quickly become a dominant market for operators, with a $2 billion handle in the first month. 

The American Gaming Association (AGA) had predicted that 31.4 million Americans would bet $7.61 billion on this year’s Super Bowl matchup, a 78% increase from last year. Individual states such as New York and New Jersey will release final numbers on bets placed on the game later this week, the trade body said.