Although the Super Bowl is the most popular sports betting event of the year in the US, and attracted $4.3bn in wagers in 2021, it’s believed that only $500m of that came through legal betting routes. If, as predicted, legal sportsbooks attract $1bn through Super Bowl betting this year, it will roughly double last year’s handle.
Eric Ramsey, Data Analyst, PlayUSA.com, commented: “The sports betting landscape has changed dramatically since last year’s game. More than half of all Americans now live in a legal jurisdiction, and even well-established markets such as New Jersey and Nevada have grown significantly over the last year as mobile betting gains in popularity.”
Indeed, when Super Bowl LVI comes around, on Sunday 13 February, sports betting will be legal in some form across 30 states. Ten of those states did not offer any form of sports betting last year, while the likes of New York, Louisiana and Arizona have expanded into online sports wagering since the previous Super Bowl.
In short, an additional 47 million US residents now live in a legalised state, compared to the same time last year.
Dustin Gouker, Lead Analyst for PlayUSA.com, said: “$1bn in legal wagering on a single game would be an impressive milestone for the industry. It would have seemed impossible just a few years ago to reach such heights, but with the expansion of sports betting over the last year it is inevitable that legal wagering will soar.”
Of the legalised states, Play.com predicts Nevada will take the largest handle this time around (a projected $175m), while newcomer New York could generate $160m.
In total, an estimated $50bn was placed on legal wagers, both online and in-person, throughout the US in 2021.
