Sports bettors wagered nearly $270 million in legal Super Bowl bets, with Nevada retaining its top spot in the US with more than half of that total.
So far, 10 states with legal sports betting reported a total of $268.6 million in Super Bowl betting handle. A few states reported a negative hold with the Kansas City Chiefs‘ 31-20 win costing books.
Not all state regulators have said they will break out Super Bowl handle separately, so we may not know the official total. Arkansas, Indiana and New York haven’t reported specific Super Bowl figures.
The total bet legally is a mere fraction of what was expected to be bet on the game. The American Gaming Association estimated a record $6.8 billion in legal and illegal Super Bowl handle.
Nevada takes most Super Bowl betting handle
Nevada again led the way with $154.7 million in Super Bowl handle, up 6% from last year. Nevada was one of the lucky states with a positive hold of 12.1%, or $18.8 million in revenue.
The total was short of 2018’s record of $156.8 million.
New Jersey, Pennsylvania take silver and bronze
The two states that could eventually top Nevada for most US sports betting handle, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ranked second and third, respectively, for their Super Bowl handle.
The Garden State took $54.2 million in bets, up about 55% from last year’s total. Revenue was a negative $4.3 million, or a negative hold of 7.8%.
Pennsylvania, meanwhile, took $30.7 million in Super Bowl bets. Online accounted for 78.3% of that with $24 million in handle. Nearly 200,000 unique sports betting accounts logged into sports betting sites for the Super Bowl, up from about 100,000 from previous NFL Sundays.
Sportsbooks in the Keystone State lost $3.3 million on the game.
Rhode Island reports dip from 2019
There’s no question New England‘s sportsbooks would have done bigger business if the Patriots were in the big game.
Rhode Island reported $5.5 million in handle with about 60,000 bets placed on the game, 75 of which were for more than $5,000. Revenue was just shy of $805,000.
The total is down from $6.5 million last year. The addition of mobile betting for this Super Bowl wasn’t enough to offset the Patriots missing the game.
New Hampshire still ramping up
New Hampshire only launched the mobile DraftKings Sportsbook at the end of December but has had a solid performance throughout the NFL playoffs.
More than $2.3 million was bet on Super Bowl LIV.
DraftKings Sportsbook has now taken more than $20.8 million in bets since launch Dec. 30.
Delaware, Mississippi, Oregon totals
While we don’t know whether Mississippi books made or lost money on the game, we do know handle was $6.7 million. That’s up from $4.7 million in 2019.
Oregon, meanwhile, reported more than $2 million was bet on the Super Bowl on more than 90,000 bets from about 18,000 unique players. The Scoreboard app, powered by SBTech for the Oregon Lottery, added 6,700 new players in the week leading up to the game with 2,700 joining over the weekend.
Oregon reported $150,000 in gross revenue from the game.
Delaware, which offers no mobile sports betting, took $2.1 million in bets and with negative revenue of $229,000. The majority of that handle, $1.4 million, came from straight Super Bowl bets. Another $359,000 in handle came from parlay cards, and $328,000 came throughout the season on futures.
West Virginia added sportsbooks before Super Bowl
West Virginia took $3.9 million in Super Bowl bets with the help of two long-shuttered properties.
Delaware North‘s Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras casinos both reopened their sportsbook operations on the Friday before the Super Bowl. Both had been shuttered since early March of last year after Delaware North’s previous supplier had an issue with third-party tech suppliers.
The relaunch comes with the help of IGT‘s technology and Genius Sports‘ data services.
Those weren’t the only new books in the state, however. BetMGM, the joint venture between MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings, launched last week as well.
Super Bowl betting totals more than $6.5 million in Iowa
A majority of Iowa‘s casinos reported taking more than $6.5 million in total Super Bowl bets, according to the Iowa Gaming Association.
Some of those casinos had heavy action on the Chiefs, which led to them losing a “significant amount of money” from their hold.
That makes sense considering the Chiefs’ home state of Missouri is on Iowa’s southern border. Handle likely would have been higher if Iowa did not require in-person registration for its mobile apps.
