As Super Bowl Sunday approaches, shares of online bookmakers have been surging. 50 million US bettors may be set to place a wager on this weekend’s game, representing one in five American adults. These strong projections compound data from November showing the sum of all bets placed on sporting events across the US topped $10 billion in a single month for the first time ever.
Though 36 states have now legalized online or retail sports betting in some capacity, three of the nation’s five largest state economies are yet to do so. Florida and California have run into similar controversies regarding indigenous tribes’ authority over gambling within those states, and the latter appears to be experiencing unexpectedly low public support for the initiation of online sports betting. Texas, meanwhile, has been struggling to overcome their Lieutenant Governor’s staunch and influential opposition to any legalized gambling for several years.
Related ETF: Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (BETZ)
Betting on this year’s Super Bowl, the culmination of the National Football League’s (NFL) playoffs, is expected to set another record, with a record 50 million American adults planning to bet on the game, wagering a total of $16 billion. That’s according to the American Gaming Association (AGA), whose forecasts show that 1 in 5 American adults will be placing bets. If the AGA figures are accurate, the number of people betting on this year’s Super Bowl would represent a 61% increase from last year’s record. The handle would be a 110% increase YoY.
GeoComply data, cited by PBS, indicates the firm recorded over 550 million geolocation checks on sports betting apps during the NFL playoffs from January 14 to January 29. That’s up 50 % from the same period last year. It will take some time to get all of the state-level data on handles and revenues for January, but its almost certain a new all-time high in wagering will be reached. As for November, the most recent month that all data has been reported for, the national sports betting handle surpassed $10 billion in a single month for the first time since the Supreme Court cleared the way for legal gambling on sporting events in 2018.
Football season is easily the most exciting time of year for most American sports fans and overall betting activity is strongest during the NFL season. A recent online survey conducted by data firm Morning Consult this winter, on behalf of the AGA, indicated that 34% of those who identify as NFL fans say the expansion of legal sports betting has made games more exciting.
Three additional states offer legal sports betting this year when compared to this time in 2022. Per Forbes, 33 states (and Washington DC), representing more than half of all American adults, now live in a market where sports betting is legal and operational in a retail or online capacity. Two have enacted legislation to enable it, but…
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