Historically the epicenter for Super Bowl betting, Nevada once again broke its own single-game record for wagering, while likely still leaving money on the table.
Bettors in the state wagered $186 million in bets on Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, beating their 2022 record ($180 million) to reach a new all-time Super Bowl betting high. Volume grew 21% year over year as sportsbooks in Las Vegas capitalized on their city’s first-time role as host. Those wagers turned into $6.8 million of revenue for operators, representing a 3.7% hold.
“The Nevada Gaming Control Board congratulates and thanks all the stakeholders involved for successfully delivering such a spectacular event from the state of Nevada,” wrote NGCB Chairman Kirk Hendrick in a press release published late Monday evening.
Record-setting Super Bowl betting
It was another low-hold Super Bowl for Nevada sportsbooks, which average a 6.29% win on the big game over the past decade, according to historical data from the NGCB.
| Year | Handle | Revenue | Hold | Game Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $185,612,813 | $6,802,264 | 3.7% | Kansas City 25, San Francisco 22 |
| 2023 | $153,183,002 | $4,361,646 | 2.8% | Kansas City 38, Philadelphia 35 |
| 2022 | $179,823,715 | $11,063,412 | 6.2% | Los Angeles 23, Cincinnati 20 |
| 2021 | $136,096,460 | $12,574,125 | 9.2% | Tampa Bay 31, Kansas City 9 |
| 2020 | $154,679,241 | $18,774,148 | 12.1% | Kansas City 31, San Francisco 20 |
| 2019 | $145,939,025 | $10,780,319 | 7.4% | New England 13, Los Angeles 3 |
| 2018 | $158,586,934 | $1,170,432 | 0.7% | Philadelphia 41, New England 33 |
| 2017 | $138,480,136 | $10,937,826 | 7.9% | New England 34, Atlanta 28 |
| 2016 | $132,545,587 | $13,314,539 | 10.1% | Denver 24, Carolina 10 |
| 2015 | $115,986,086 | $3,261,066 | 2.8% | New England 28, Seattle 24 |
Still, early results from Nevada are less bleak than initial reports from financial analysts. Analysts at Citizens JMP Securities project a nationwide hold between 0% to -5%, citing the large number of bettors to back the Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
Nevada Super Bowl betting has room to grow?
Here is the interesting thing about Nevada’s numbers: they should be significantly bigger. Outside of a couple of monopolized markets, no competitive sports betting state is so ill-equipped for the modern era of online gaming.
New bettors looking to sign up for an online betting account are still required to visit an affiliated brick-and-mortar casino and fill out paperwork by hand. This in-person registration hurdle is no longer present in any other US jurisdiction and regularly limits online handle compared to other states.
FanDuel and DraftKings, the overwhelming national leaders, choose not to serve the Silver State with their highly regarded products. Neither do Fanatics or ESPN Bet, two operators pouring the most money into product development. Most of the state’s betting apps are antiquated and long-underdeveloped, with a comparatively limited menu of nontraditional markets.
The fact that the experience of betting online in Nevada is objectively subpar compared to the rest of the country makes its record-setting Super Bowl output even more remarkable in context, even with its host status. A modernized sports betting industry there could be capable of exceeding these already-huge numbers.
Big game wagers elsewhere
Nevada was one of the fastest states to publish its local betting data from Super Bowl 58.
Montana was the first on the board, reporting $977,352 in wagers and $20,276 in revenue. Volume grew about 30% from last year, but the results of those tickets drove operator margins down to a slender 2.1%.
These early reports so far align with pregame modeling from LSR, which forecasted a nationwide total of $1.29 billion in Super Bowl betting handle. Nevada’s record-breaking performance seemingly puts the over in play.
