According to LSR, wagering on the upcoming Super Bowl should eclipse the betting figures for 2023—of course, 2024 includes more regulated markets—39—than in 2023. More markets, more bettors, and the game is also taking place in Las Vegas.
LSR predicts total betting will reach $1.29 billion, compared to $1.08 billion last year. Sportsbooks could win over $100 million, depending on how things play out.
With over 175 million adults living in states with legal betting, look for the handle to rise as patrons get familiar with the betting choices such as props and in-play wagers and parlays. Some 25 percent of the handle will be part of parlays, according to Pechanga.net.
The leading state could be New York when the figures are added up. But as of yet, New York has not been able to squeeze past Nevada when it comes to Super Bowl betting.
Based on LSR projections, Nevada, in part because it hosts the game, should still be top dog with $170 million in handle, maybe beating its 2022 record of $179.8 million. New York expects to be in the neighborhood of $140 million for second place, while New Jersey is expected to draw $115 million in handle, for third place.
Florida, the state which just began offering mobile sports betting, could rake in $90 million for fourth place. And Ohio rounds out the top five with $88 million projected.
Other notable markets include Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maine, Vermont and Nebraska. New Hampshire and Rhode Island could suffer some with the addition of legality in adjoining states, places where bettors went to the original two New England states before.
Ironically, the two markets with the most to gain from Super Bowl betting, California and Texas, are still off the board in 2024. Both remain in political purgatory for the time being.
If it does open to legal operators, California will quickly become the largest market in the country. Competitive online sports betting in California? The state can only dream for now. But if they ever legalize sports betting look for $300 million in handle and $30 million of revenue just from the Super Bowl, per LSR.
The forecasted totals are mostly proportional to the regular performance of the individual markets that comprise them. Those that have grown over the past year should, on average, expect Super Bowl betting to increase too. Some states, however, have additional unique dynamics at play.
Another big topic of note heading into the big game is the amount of sports betting ads that will play over the course of the most-watched U.S. television broadcast. The NFL has limited the number of such ads, but it turns out only three ads were sold, less than the NFL allowed, spokesperson Alex Riethmiller said.
“We’ve put some policies in place to limit the amount of advertising for sports betting that happens in our live games,” David Highhill, the NFL’s general manager for sports betting, told the Associated Press. “It’s roughly one ad per quarter. All told, less than 5 percent of all in-game ads are sports betting ads.”
League officials joined the head of a problem gambling treatment group and spoke during an online forum about the NFL’s first Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
“We need to be mindful of the tenor, volume and saturation of sports betting advertising and the degree with which we’re integrating that into the live game,” Highhill told the AP.
Since surveying fans from 2019 on, the NFL has seen an increase in participants.
When the 38 states and Washington D.C. poured money into advertising, the practice drew complaints from patrons, recovering gambling addicts faced with the urge to go back to gambling, and lawmakers who threatened to end or take down the practice if the sportsbooks can’t control it themselves.
American Gaming Association president Bill Miller, speaking at a forum, said ad levels were becoming “an unsustainable arms race.”
Last April, most of the sports leagues, plus Fox and NBCUniversal, formed a coalition to demand advertising be done responsibly and not target minors.
Highhill said the NFL tends to get blamed for sports betting ads that are beyond its reach.
“There’s times when we’re held accountable for ads that are not running in our games, that are running on other sports programming or sports radio throughout the week,” he told the AP. “Unfortunately, we can’t control all ads everywhere.”
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said the NFL donated $6.2 million in 2021 to assist expansion of treatment programs, a move that has helped people get help.
