Sports fans are already excited for the Super Bowl. But aside from football fans, gamblers across the US are already gearing up for their big day. For this year’s Super Bowl, the American Gaming Association is expecting a record amount of money from gamblers.
According to the new report by the AGA, 31.4 million Americans have plans of betting on Super Bowl LVI. That’s a 35% jump from last year’s numbers. Bettors are expected to wager $7.61 billion which is 78% higher from 2021.
One of the reasons for this jump is that 30 states legalized betting. On top of that 19 states now allow online sports wagering. This means that 100 million Americans can legally bet on this year’s Super Bowl. Compared to last year, there were only 20 states where sports betting were legal.
Bill Miller, who is the president and CEO of the AGA, said that “Americans have never been more interested in legal sports wagering”.
Biggest Super Bowl for DraftKings
DraftKings’ head for race and sportsbook Johnny Avello said that this is expected to be the best Super Bowl in DraftKings’ history. As of February 7, 65% of the bets are on the Bengals. However, Avello says that they are expecting 85% of Super Bowl-related bets during the weekend. Plus, he is also expecting a lot of individuals who will wager on the Rams.
Avello said that “It’s going to be record handle for DraftKings”. For Avello, two things drove people to bet more this year than ever before. First is the legalization of mobile sports betting in 30 states. Secondly, the legalization consequently changed how people perceive gambling.
When he was still working for Wynn’s sportsbook in Vegas, Avello never thought that betting will ever hit a national scale. The reason for this is that the NFL along with other leagues doesn’t want anything that involved sportsbooks.
Avello said that “It’s (socially) accepted and it’s eventually going to be accepted in most of the 50 states”. Plus, a lot of gamblers are excited that this year’s Super Bowl doesn’t involve Tom Brady. He says that “Bettors like variety”. DraftKings for this year’s Super Bowl has already attracted six-figure bets for both teams.
Then, there are the high rollers. Jim McIngvale, better known as the “Mattress Mack” from Texas placed a $4.5 million wager on the Bengals. He had to leave Texas and go to Louisiana to make the bet. Louisiana recently launched mobile sports betting on January 28. He said in an interview that “If you could see me there, pecking on my phone for two hours, you’d see it wasn’t too glamorous”.
Director for Westgate Las Vegas said that “It’ll be the biggest ever for us; it grows every year”. Westgate has expanded from Las Vegas to Arizona and New Jersey. For Murray, they are hoping for a ”boring” game. He says “We generally want a quiet game”. He added that “Long touchdown passes, and runs, are not (the book’s) friend”.
As for the growth of sports betting, he said that “There’s no reason we won’t see exponential growth each year for the foreseeable future”. He added, “This was the point of legalization, and this is the new normal”.
