Did the spread of legal sports betting to 34 American states and jurisdictions finally have an impact on the former lone bastion of legal wagering in the United States?
While the explanation might be a while in coming, the facts are not. The amount bet on Super Bowl 57 in Nevada was down significantly from the 56th edition a year ago.
When the Supreme Court nullified the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018 and enabled states to legalize sports wagering, the question immediately arose whether Las Vegas would recede as a destination for the most lucrative wagering event of the year. Nevada more than held its own until the Chiefs-Eagles matchup this year. Nevada didn’t collapse, and perhaps unfairly, the state not breaking records anymore is noteworthy.
In summation: Of the ten states reporting Super Bowl 57 handle, the total handle is $549 million, up from $546 million publicly reported by 13 states last year.
2023 Super Bowl Handle, State-by-State
Colorado
Handle: $37.9 million
The total was down from 2022 ($41 million) and included $14 million in futures bets. Let’s ride, indeed.
Kansas
Handle: $24.7 million
Kansas bettors, as expected, went heavily on the neighboring Chiefs and clobbered the sportsbooks. Consider: $22.3 million of that handle came through six online operators, and those platforms paid out $35 million to doubly happy Kansas sports bettors. Among the nuggets provided by the Kansas Lottery: a $300 parlay on a Houston Astros World Series title, Georgia football national championship and a Chiefs Super Bowl victory paid $30,000.
Montana
Handle: $747,805
Sports Bet Montana took 25,636 bets, paying out $628,156.20. Last year, 695,838 was bet and $427,867 was paid out.
Nevada
Handle: $153.2 million, down 14%.
The state also held just $5.5 million (3.6%)
Nevada sportsbooks took in $179.8 million in handle on Super Bowl 56, which broke the old record of $158.5 million set in 2018, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Still, this year’s figure is fourth-highest in state history, and an asterisk might be in order. William Hill’s sports betting app — which also provides a platform for Caesars — crashed just before Super Bowl kickoff and did not come back online until Wednesday.
New Hampshire
Handle: $9.2 million
Up from $7.7 million last year.
New Jersey
Handle: $109.3 million
The former standard-bearer of East Coast sports betting took a hit, too. This was a sizeable dip from the $117.4 million in Super Bowl bets two years ago and way down from last year, when the handle for the Rams-Bengals Super Bowl was approximately $143.7 million.
New Jersey sportsbooks held $12.8 million from this year’s Super Bowl bets, according to the Division of Gaming Enforcement.
New York
Handle: $123.8 million
New York, the American king of sports betting states, held 5.6%.
Oregon
Handle: $5.3 million
Nearly 307,000 bets were made through the lone operator, the Oregon Lottery,
Pennsylvania
Handle: $84.3 million, up 24%
Not surprising considering the Eagles were in Super Bowl 57. Also not surprising, a lot of those bettors went with the home-state team, so the Chiefs victory propelled a hold percentage of 35.2% ($29.7 million) for Pennsylvania sportsbooks.
The handle figure, represents a massive improvement on the $68.04 million bet on Super Bowl 56, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Washington, D.C.
Handle: $956,264.32
Thirty-two cents, you say? GamebetDC handled 27,993 bets.
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