Super Bowl LVI Proves to Be a Hit with Sports Bettors

Super Bowl LVI is expected to be a record-setting year for betting, with both experienced gamblers and casual sports fans continuing to show great interest in the championship game of the NFL season. GeoComply reported Sunday night that more than 80.1 million geolocation transactions were made this past weekend. This is more than twice the number recorded last year.

Super Bowl LVI a Success on Different Levels

GeoComply, which helps to confirm where bettors live, reported that approximately 5.6 million accounts have logged onto legal online sportsbooks. This was an increase of 95% from last year. Even the oldest betting markets saw growth. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Monday that $179.8 million was wagered at Nevada’s 179 state-licensed sportsbooks in time for the Big Game.

Operators also confirmed that they dealt with a large number of bets. Super Bowl betting has grown due to legal sports betting, an almost endless supply of props and the popularity and appeal of the NFL among gamblers and fans.

Caesars Sportsbook claimed that their volume for this year’s NFL championship game was the highest it has ever seen in both Nevada and the US. Some of this increase was also attributed to prop betting’s rising popularity.

This was not surprising. The American Gaming Association (AGA) released research before the game that estimated that 31.4 million Americans planned to place bets on Super Bowl LVI. This is a 35% increase over the championship game last year. The game was also projected to see bettors wager $7.61 billion, an increase of 78% over last year.

Canadian sportsbooks expected a similar increase in its betting. This was partly due to the recent approval of legislation that allowed provinces to offer single-event sports betting instead of the parlay-heavy model. PlayNow.com, an online sportsbook operated by the British Columbia Lottery Corp., is expected to double its Super Bowl betting haul, or more than $2 million.

There’s a good chance that the Super Bowl LVI will bring in even more money next year. Online sports betting is legal in a number of states and, in April, Ontario will open a new iGaming marketplace.

Sportsbooks Still Settling Bets

Yahoo Finance confirmed that DraftKings had placed more than $175 million in bets on the Super Bowl. This is about half of the DraftKings total New York handle over three weeks.

This doesn’t include any bets that DraftKings lost. Many of these gaming companies are making big earnings so they don’t want to share their entire information. Information has been slowly trickling out.

FanDuel paid $55 million in total from just two bets. It offered a promotion that offered bettors 56-to-1 odds. They paid out more than $30 million for this bet. FanDuel also paid $55 million when the Bengals covered the spread.

BetMGM stated that they had a slow start to the game. Odell Beckham, Jr. scored their first touchdown. Many bettors placed bets on OBJ to make that score, which means sportsbooks took a hit on that prop bet. One BetMGM bettor placed $10,000 on OBJ to score the first touchdown, which means he or she won $100,000.

Mattress Mack was at it again, as well. He bet around $9.5 million on the Big Game. Unfortunately for him, that money went on the Bengals.