The Super Bowl proved super for sports betting. With 10 states checking in, LegalSportsReport.com reported $268.6 million in legal Super Bowl handle. Arkansas, Indiana and New York haven’t reported specific Super Bowl figures. A few states ended up with a negative hold thanks to the Chiefs win.
Adding illegal wagers to the mix and the American Gaming Association estimated a record $6.8 billion was wagered on the Super Bowl.
Nevada again led the way with $154.7 million in Super Bowl handle, up 6 percent from last year. Nevada also enjoyed a positive hold of 12.1 percent, or $18.8 million in revenue. But the state fell short of 2018’s record of $156.8 million.
The two states that could eventually top Nevada for U.S. sports betting handle, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, ranked second and third, respectively. New Jersey took $54.2 million in bets, up about 55 percent from last year’s total. But revenue was a negative $4.3 million, or a negative hold of 7.8 percent.
Pennsylvania pulled in $30.7 million in Super Bowl bets. Online accounted for 78.3 percent of the wagers. New England‘s sportsbooks would have done bigger business if the Patriots were in big game. Rhode Island reported $5.5 million in handle, down from $6.5 million in 2019. Revenue was almost $805,000.
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.
In Mississippi, the handle rose from $4.7 million to $6.7 million. Oregon reported more than $2 million bet with $150,000 in revenue.
Delaware, which offers no mobile sports betting, took $2.1 million in bets but ended up with negative revenue of $229,000. The majority of the handle, $1.4 million, came from straight Super Bowl bets. Another $359,000 in handle resulted from parlay cards.
West Virginia bettors wagered $3.9 million in the Super Bowl thanks to 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 shut down last year after Delaware North’s previous supplier had an issue with third-party tech suppliers. The re-launch comes with the help of It’s technology and Genius Sports‘ data services.
A majority of Iowa‘s casinos reported taking more than $6.5 million in Super Bowl bets, according to the Iowa Gaming Association.
Some of those casinos had heavy action on the Kansas City Chiefs, which led to losing large sums of money from their hold. Handle likely would have been higher if Iowa did not require in-person registration for its mobile apps.
