The gaming trade body estimates 23.2 million Americans will wager on the National Football League (NFL) championship game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and defending champions the Kansas City Chiefs on 7 February. The figure would be an 11% decrease from the 26 million who placed a bet on last year’s game.
The research also predicts that a record 7.6 million will bet with online sportsbooks this year, which would be a 63% year-on-year increase.
The increase of online bettors for the Super Bowl is helped by the fact 36 million more American adults are now able to bet in legal markets in their home states considering seven markets have become live in the past 12 months, including Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Tennessee, Washington DC, Michigan and Virginia.
The AGA cited an overall drop in Super Bowl betting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced declines in retail and casual bets, with the survey conduced by Morning Consult, showing an expected 61% drop in in-person sportsbook bets compared to 2020.
The survey also showed that 65% of expected Super Bowl bettors believe it's important for them to use a regulated sportsbook to place a bet with.
AGA president and CEO Bill Miller said: “This year’s Super Bowl is expected to generate the largest single-event legal handle in American sports betting history. With a robust legal market, Americans are abandoning illegal bookies and taking their action into the regulated marketplace in record numbers.
“Responsible gaming is core to legal sports betting’s long-term success, and this is borne out by continued demand for consumer protections only available in the legal market.”
