Gambling NewsSports Betting News

Super Bowl LV Record-Setting for Sports Betting

Sports betting was legalized in the United States in 2018 following the decision on the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. There have been three Super Bowls in the United States since sports betting was legalized, and financial figures continue to grow drastically. This is because states are constantly enacting sports betting in their respective territories.

Super Bowl LV Records

At the kickoff of Super Bowl LV, sports betting was legalized in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Not all of these states have reported their Super Bowl LV numbers because of the vast amount of placed bets. There has been a calculated handle of over $440 million thus far. There are still seven states that need to report their full numbers.

When the total betting handle is determined, the figure could exceed $500 million. Industry experts have made this prediction off the current trend as states continue to assess their Super Bowl LV betting numbers.

Last year’s Super Bowl handle seemed exponential at the time, but the 2021 figure has already destroyed the $300 million handle from last year’s game. Nevada was the largest sports betting market for Super Bowl LV. They topped New Jersey, the country’s new overall sports betting leader.

Technological Issues

Super Bowl LV’s betting handle was monumental, and the exciting note is that this figure could have been even more extensive. Countless legal sportsbooks in the United States were disabled leading up to kickoff.

The vast number of bettors, human error, and technological issues caused sportsbook disruption on gameday. Many of the top American sports betting platforms are run by Pay Per Head services (PPH). PPH services are the technology behind a sportsbook.

Barstool Sportsbook, BetRivers, and DraftKings Sportsbook had technical difficulties accepting bets in the hour and a half leading up to kickoff. All three of these sportsbooks utilize Kambi as their PPH provider. Kambi is one of the most well-respected books in the industry, but the server was overloaded in the buildup to Super Bowl LV.

In Nevada, Super Bowl LV’s leading legal market, BetMGM, had technological difficulties of its own. According to MGM Resorts International, the company behind BetMGM, its outage resulted from human error. BetMGM’s entire Nevada mobile system was dismantled before the game.

BetMGM still set multiple records for Super Bowl LV. Nationally, BetMGM took 11 times more bets and had 17 times the handle of last year’s game.

Continuously Growing Market

The legal sports betting market in the United States is continually growing. Super Bowl LV produced monumental betting figures, but this is just the beginning of a growing trend in the legal sports betting industry.

There will be more than 20 legal betting states in America by Super Bowl 56 next year. Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, and Texas are currently in the sports betting legislative negotiation process. Additionally, other states such as New York are expected to legalize mobile betting this year.

Next year’s Super Bowl handle has the potential to blow away this year’s total because of the growing support for legal sports betting.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also
Close