When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down PASPA – the law prohibiting single-game sports betting in every state except Nevada – gaming industry observers wondered how legalization across the country would impact business in Las Vegas and throughout the Silver State. Legal sports betting is now live in 30 states plus Washington, DC, and there’s been little evidence of adverse effects in Nevada. This past Sunday’s Super Bowl 56 between the Rams and Bengals, in fact, set a record for the state in terms of Super Bowl betting handle.
Nevada sportsbooks took $179.8 million in handle for Super Bowl 56, surpassing the previous record of $158.5 million set in 2018 for Eagles-Patriots, according to the state’s Gaming Control Board. Last season’s Bucs-Chiefs game pulled $136.1 million in handle.
Of the $179.8 million wagered on Rams-Bengals, books held $15.4 million, a win percentage of 8.6. That falls short of the $19.7 million win for the 2014 game featuring Seahawks-Broncos.
Here are Super Bowl betting numbers from various other states around the country. We’ll update this list.
New Jersey
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced its preliminary Super Bowl 56 wagering data Tuesday.
The handle for this year’s Super Bowl totaled approximately $143.7 million, with a projected total sports wagering payout to bettors of $135.9 million. This computes to a win of $7.8 million for sportsbooks in the state (5.4% hold). The handle was up significantly over last year ($117.4 million), when there was a total sports wagering payout of $106.1 million, resulting in a win of $11.3 million for the sportsbooks.
These results bode well for New Jersey, which faces new competition from neighboring New York, whose legal sports betting industry launched Jan. 8.
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board issued a report Wednesday that revealed a total handle of $68.04 million in the state for Super Bowl 56. That represents a 27% increase compared to last year. Revenue for the state’s sportsbooks is expected to $4.6 million after payouts.
While bettors were able to make Super Bowl wagers at 18 retail locations and 14 online sites this year, online accounted for $61.11 million of the handle.
The report also noted that there were 413,000 unique users logged onto online sports wagering sites in Pennsylvania on Super Bowl Sunday. That was up from last year’s 320,000 unique visitors at Pennsylvania’s regulated sports betting sites.
Illinois
Sportsbooks in Illinois wrote $54.79 million in online Super Bowl handle and $5.74 million at retail, holding $9.51 million of that $60.51 million total, a 15.7% win, the Illinois Gaming Board announced. That hold generated tax revenue of $1.43 million for the state.
Those numbers are up from last year’s $45.61 million in total Super Bowl handle ($42.76 million online), $7.66 million hold, and $1.15 million in state tax revenue.
This year, DraftKings’ $19.93 million led in online handle, followed by FanDuel ($16.67 million), and BetRivers ($7.58 million).
Rhode Island
About 95,000 Super Bowl bets were placed in Rhode Island, according to the state’s Department of Revenue (via WPRI.com).
Among the most popular, about 4,400 bets were placed on the coin flip (Rams called ‘tails’ and it landed ‘heads’) and 3,700 on the first player to score a touchdown (Odell Beckham Jr. was the winning wager).
While this year’s Super Bowl handle figures had not been released, Rhode Island saw $6 million in wagers for last year’s game, per the report.
Tennessee
The Tennessee Sports Wagering Advisory Council announced that the state’s Super Bowl 56 betting handle totaled slightly more than $23 million, marking a 49.8% increase over last year. Revenue for operators checked in $3.4 million, up nearly 23% from 2021.
Oregon
DraftKings –through a partnership with the Oregon Lottery, the state’s exclusive sports betting operator – wrote 250,000 bets on this year’s Super Bowl, 150,000 more than the lottery saw last year (through a different partner), the Oregonian reported.
Montana
According to the Montana Lottery, almost $700,000 was wagered in the state on Super Bowl 56, down 41% from last year’s Chiefs-Bucs matchup. The total handle this year was $695,838, which translated to an average bet of $23.95. Payouts totaled $427,867.
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