Legal sports betting on the Super Bowl more than doubled year-on-year, according to new data from GeoComply.
The geolocation provider tracked more than 80 million geolocation transactions across legal US sports betting states over the weekend.
That was a 2.26x increase from Super Bowl weekend last year. Geolocation pings can be bets or logins.
Since last year’s Super Bowl attracted $500 million in handle, that would suggest this year’s game topped $1 billion. That figure is in-line with pregame predictions from PlayUSA.
US sportsbooks stood up well
GeoComply also reported 5.6 million unique accounts accessing legal online sportsbooks this weekend, up 95% from last year.
The new volume was handled well by operators with no US sportsbooks suffered a major outage, unlike last year.
Perhaps customers heeded Barstool’s warning to bet early.
Changing market
The 2022 event also reflected the changing nature of US sports betting, as customers shifted away from sides and totals.
Kambi said it took more ‘Game Parlay’ bets – its version of same -game parlays – than moneyline, spread and total bets combined.
The provider said half of all pre-match bettors placed a Game Parlay on the Super Bowl.
There was similar growth in live betting, especially late in the game. The fourth quarter accounted for 13% of all live bets compared to 7% in 2021. Kambi said that was driven by the ‘Current Drive Outcome’ market.
Kambi powers Barstool and BetRivers Sportsbook, among others.
Where did Super Bowl betting growth come from?
Overall growth was driven by new states coming online and existing states maturing,
New York sports betting alone was projected to generate $190 million in handle.
Other new states to come online for this year’s Super Bowl include:
- Arizona
- Connecticut
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Super Bowl betting growth in existing markets
Among existing states, Illinois and Indiana likely benefited from their proximity to the Super Bowl teams.
Elsewhere, both Tennessee and Virginia did less than $20 million in Super Bowl betting last year. Both markets were fairly new – Tennessee sportsbooks launched Nov. 1 while Virginia sportsbooks launched Jan. 21 – which means both should see increased handle after a year of operators adding customers.
The game was also an advertising showpiece for US sportsbooks. DraftKings and Caesars all ran national ads during the game for the first time.
