Sports fans in Nevada bet a staggering $154.7 million on the Super Bowl this year. That’s up from last year, but still below the record set in 2018.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board was a day late releasing the Super Bowl betting figures on Tuesday, due to a technical problem with one of its licensee’s collection and reporting of gambling data.
The good news is, the Nevada totals were the highest in the country, where fourteen states have now legalized sports betting. The Siver State’s 190 sportsbooks raked in nearly $18.8 million, for a 12.1% hold percentage.
“The growth over last year was fantastic,” Chuck Esposito, the director of Sunset Station’s sportsbook said. “It was a little due to having fresh teams playing. The West Coast’s 49ers and the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. Not having the Patriots was fresh.”
The amount wagered in Nevada represented an increase from last year’s figure of $145.9 million, but it still trailed the $158.5 million that was bet on the 2018 Super Bowl.
New Jersey Comes in a Distant Second
The amount wagered on the Super Bowl in Nevada was three times that of New Jersey, the second-biggest sports betting market in the country. New Jersey’s horse tracks and casinos took in $54.2 million, significantly up from $34.8 million the previous year. Unfortunately, New Jersey’s ten retail sportsbooks and nineteen mobile sports betting apps lost $4.28 million on the Super Bowl, for a negative hold percentage of 7.8%.
“We surpassed what we thought we would do by a lot,” Ron Baumann, Caesars Entertainment regional president said. “We sold out every seat we had.”
Baumann also disclosed that Caesars’ sportsbook handled more than 10,000 bets on the game and that the full capacity crowds in the retail sportsbooks also led to bigger sales overall for their casinos. He noted that the slots, table games, and the food and beverage sales also had a noticeable spike during the Super Bowl weekend.
How the Other States Handled the Super Bowl
Pennsylvania, which also released its own Super Bowl numbers Tuesday, had $30.7 million in bets, and a $3.3 million loss for its sportsbooks.
In Mississippi, state regulators reported its sportsbooks took in $6.7 million in bets on this year’s Super Bowl, however, officials did not immediately work out how much of that was paid out to players who placed winning bets.
Due to the New England Patriots not playing in the Super Bowl for the first time in four years, gamblers in Rhode Island showed less interest in placing wagers on anyone other than Tom Brady. The $5.5 million handles were around 84% of the $6.5 million bets last year when the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Patriots.
The sportsbooks in Rhode Island’s maintained a hold percentage of 14.6%. That meant a hold of around $805,000 for the sportsbooks, and nearly half of that goes to the state. Last year, with the Patriots victory, the sportsbooks lost $2.3 million.
West Virginia raked in close to $3.9 million in wagers on the big game; that’s $1 million up from last year’s $2.8 million. However, West Virginia did not provide the hold percentage immediately.
Delaware lost out on $229,000 of the $2.1 million in Super Bowl wagers it handled. And finally, Oregon handled nearly $2 million in bets and kept around $150,000 of that.
New Hampshire gamblers wagered more than $2.3 million on the Super Bowl; however, the full numbers are not in just yet. The state only began sports betting on Dec. 30.
“We’re very pleased with the results from our first Super Bowl as well as our first month of sports betting. We look forward to continuing to build up this success as we capture the interest of more and more players,” remarked Charlie McIntyre, executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery.
A few states, such as New Mexico and New York, reported that they do not calculate Super Bowl wagers separately.
