States across the country are beginning to publish figures from sports bets placed over Super Bowl LVI.
So far only Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi and Montana have released their wager totals.
The American Gaming Association predicted 31.4 million American adults planned to bet a combined $7.61 billion on Super Bowl LVI.
This year’s Super Bowl LVI recorded a record number of bets by Americans to see which team would take home the coveted trophy, as states are starting to reveal how much was wagered.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that roughly $179 million was wagered over Super Bowl LVI, a huge increase compared to the $135 million wagered over 2021’s Super Bowl. A similar trend was noted in New Jersey, with the state announcing this year’s Super Bowl wagers totaled approximately $143.7 million, while last year the state said about $117.4 million was wagered over the Super Bowl.
The state of Mississippi also saw nearly $6.4 million in bets and Montana saw about $700,000, according to The Associated Press.
New York launched mobile sports wagering in early January 2022 and saw nearly $2 million in wagers taken during the first 30 days of operation. The state said that’s more than any other state has ever reported and will generate $70 million in tax revenue. Figures from Super Bowl LVI will be updated later this week.
That's not surprising to the American Gaming Association (AGA), which predicted that 31.4 million American adults would bet a combined $7.61 billion on Super Bowl LVI, including about 18 percent of Super Bowl viewers.
The 35 percent increase from 2021 comes as more states legalize sports betting. According to AGA, by the end of 2019, 20 states and the District of Columbia legalized sports betting, and currently 44 states have legal casino gaming.
Ahead of Super Bowl LVI, AGA said bettors slightly favored the Los Angeles Rams over the Cincinnati Bengals with 55 percent saying they expect the Rams to win. In the trade group’s annual survey, just one percent of expected bettors said they would wager on the Bengals to win the Super Bowl and two percent would have picked the Rams five months ago.
“The enthusiasm of bettors for the upcoming NFL season highlights the remarkable growth of the industry over the past three years. Importantly, when the 2021 NFL season begins, more than 111 million Americans will be able to wager safely with regulated sportsbooks in their home states rather than with the predatory illegal market,” said Bill Miller, president and CEO of AGA.
The expansion of legal and online sports betting is expected to grow even more in 2022, with AGA data showing 12.9 million people can now place a bet online, which is a 70 percent increase from 2021.
There are still 4.7 million people who plan to place a bet in person at a sportsbook, which is a 231 percent increase from 2021.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/594394-super-bowl-lvi-spurred-record-sports-betting-across#:~:text=The%20Nevada%20Gaming%20Control%20Board,wagered%20over%202021's%20Super%20Bowl.