Mobile betting on Super Bowl LV was so widespread, it caused some disruptions in connectivity and service on major mobile sportsbook apps. Now some question if the books will be able to handle future spikes in demand.
The good news is that the volume reflects soaring demand among sports fans. But as the website SportsHandle.com noted, the “steady stream of outages raise critical questions on the industry’s ability to handle technological bottlenecks during major events on the global sports calendar.”
Five companies reportedly experienced disruptions: Barstool Sports, BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel and BetRivers. As a result, Penn National Gaming, which owns a piece of Barstool, was down 6 percent the day after the big game. DraftKings saw a drop of nearly 3 percent on the news. The companies attributed the outages to their backend providers.
Outages in new markets like Michigan, which just launched sports betting, could be especially troublesome. First impressions matter, and for some football fans and sports bettors, trying to bet on the Chiefs-Bucs game was an exercise in frustration.
In a statement to SportsHandle, FanDuel wrote, “Due to unprecedented demand during the game, FanDuel customers in Michigan and Illinois did experience intermittent outages while other markets saw latency in accessing our Sportsbook mobile app. At no time did our platform cease operating, and our team worked quickly to restore and stabilize service in the affected markets.”
DraftKings commented, “We’re aware customers were unable to access our mobile and online sportsbook. This incident is why we believe owning our own technology is important.”
William Hill and PointsBet, which use in-house technology to run their mobile sportsbook platforms, did not experience any major disruptions, according to CNBC.
Susquehanna analyst Joseph Stauff told the website, “While outages happen, it happened at literally the worst possible time, and that is a VERY important miss considering that all operators just launched in Michigan. The importance of the outage is whether it sours customers in Michigan, in particular, that have not yet locked into a preferred app as that takes a few months.”
Kambi Group, which powers the apps behind DraftKings, Penn National, Rush Street Interactive and Churchill Downs among others, released a statement saying that “concentrated volume on this high capacity and (an) expanded bet offer resulted in a backlog in our overall bet validation process, which subsequently impacted overall performance. This specific problem was quickly identified and rectified ahead of kick-off, at which point Kambi processed the highest ever bet volumes in its history. Beyond this specific issue, all systems responded within acceptable performance limits.”
FanDuel, which has tech partnerships with both IGT and Scientific Games, also experienced issues in Pennsylvania.
Several retail sportsbooks in Nevada operated by BetMGM were unable to accept bets shortly before kickoff. But in the end, wagers were down to 2016 levels for total bets of $136.21 million and revenues of nearly $12.6 million, a win percentage of 9.2 percent for the operators, according to CDC Gaming Reports.
“The state numbers generally were in line with my expectations, perhaps a bit better,” said William Hill US CEO Joe Asher. “Obviously, everyone knew visitation to Las Vegas was going to be down due to Covid, so the numbers were solid when viewed through that prism.”
UNLV gaming historian David G. Schwartz agreed that the wagering total bodes well for Nevada, “given the restrictions on travel and in-person gathering.”
Betting was up more than 70 percent in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to GeoComply. New Jersey’s 12 retail sportsbooks and 21 sports wagering mobile apps posted $117.4 million in wagers, with $11.3 million for the operators. Pennsylvania reported $53.6 million in Super Bowl wagers, up 74 percent from 2020, of which $47.5 million came through online and mobile bets. Revenue to the state was more than $9.4 million.
Sports betting and iGaming platform supplier GAN reported a record 14.6 million online bets on the day of the Super Bowl, up 186 percent over last year’s big game.
Sports betting on such a scale got mixed reviews in the U.S. As Stauff said, “The risk is that the massive frustration created by not being able to get a bet in on the Super Bowl for 45 minutes prior to the game and during the first quarter is enough for (people) to move to try competing apps.”
Meanwhile, thanks to a high-frequency ad campaign featuring easy-to-win bets reserved for new players, sportsbooks in New Jersey and elsewhere benefited from the pre-Super Bowl barrage of commercials.
According to a report from ABC News, Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive, said his company has seen ”strong returns” on the pre-Super Bowl spending, and Keith Gormley, head of U.S. marketing for Tipico, returned a similar report.
“This market is extremely competitive,” said Gormley, whose company originated in Europe and recently began taking bets in New Jersey and Colorado. “You’ve got dozens of sportsbooks and casino brands all spending across TV, radio, digital and sponsorships to attract the same customer. Expensive bonus promotions and mass advertising certainly work to get them in the door, but a great mobile product and customer care is what will keep them playing with your book long-term.”
Tipico matched initial deposits from new customers up to $750. Other sportsbooks offered similar bonuses, with some offering simple enticements such as winning $100 if either team scored a touchdown, or inflated odds like paying $275 on a $5 bet.
“We invest heavily around the Super Bowl because it is our biggest single sporting event on the calendar to acquire new sportsbook customers,” FanDuel spokesman Kevin Hennessy told ABC. “It’s a day where the most number of people bet on sports, so there really is no bigger single event in the U.S.”
FanDuel paid out $17 million to new customers as part of a 55-to-1 odds promotion.
Tipico said its new customer sign-ups increased by 120 percent in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl and saw a 400 percent surge on game day.
According to the ABC report, New Jersey books drew more than $117 million in bets on this year’s Super Bowl. The 12 retail and 21 mobile sportsbooks kept $11.3 million of that as winnings.
