The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) has revealed $185.6m (£146.6m/€172.3m) was wagered on Sunday’s Super Bowl in the state's 182 sportsbooks, breaking the previous record.
The game, played between the San Francisco 49ers and eventual champions Kansas City Chiefs at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, exceeded the $179.8m wagered on the 2022 Super Bowl.
However, a 3.7% hold percentage meant sportsbooks’ total win was just $6.8m. Since 2015, only three editions of the Super Bowl have generated a lower sportsbook win than the 2024 game.
In the NGCB press release, chairman Kirk Hendrick said: “The Nevada Gaming Control Board congratulates and thanks all the stakeholders involved for successfully delivering such a spectacular event from the state of Nevada.”
AGA expecting Super Bowl bets to reach record numbers
The NGCB’s numbers should not come as much of a surprise. The American Gaming Association (AGA) predicted Americans would wager a record $23.1bn on Sunday’s game. Ahead of the showpiece match, the AGA surveyed 2,204 adults to predict wagering activity.
Findings from the survey suggested a record 67.8 million people were expected to place a wager, up 35%.
As to where players would bet, 11% of all bettors were predicted to do so with a licensed online sportsbook. The AGA said this shows Americans are continuing to migrate to the legal market.
GeoComply also finds rise in legal betting
Fraud prevention solutions provider GeoComply reported a 22.3% year-on-year increase in geolocation checks during Super Bowl LVIII.
In the minutes before kick-off, 14.75 thousand transactions per second were reported, the highest on record and almost double last year’s peak.
GeoComply says the increase in geolocation checks is positive for legal betting in the US. It says the rise underscores a shift towards a regulated, taxed and safe betting environment.
Looking across the entire 2023-24 National Football League (NFL) campaign, GeoComply customers added more than 13.7 million new accounts. This is 28% higher than in the previous season.
Nevada’s FY2023 record numbers
The Super Bowl records come after Nevada revealed its gambling revenue reached an all-time high of $15.5bn in 2023, exceeding the previous annual record by 4.6%.
As for sports betting, sports pool revenue for 2023 amounted to $481.3m. The Nevada Gaming Control Board also noted $240.7m of all sports pool revenue came from mobile betting.
Nevada’s growing role in the world of sports will see Las Vegas have teams in the NFL, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball by the end of 2025.
BetMGM are one of the companies looking to tap into the influx of sports events in Las Vegas, with chief executive Adam Greenblatt stating recently that 2024 would be the year the operator “unlocks” the city.
The Formula One race in the city last year attracted 300,000 fans and was a record-breaking weekend for BetMGM. The operator took three times the number of bets than any other F1 race in its history.
