By Thenuts - Jan 29, 2025
Regulated
sportsbooks in the US are preparing for the annual Super Bowl Sunday.
The NFL season culminates on February 9 with the Super Bowl 59 contest between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, expected to generate over $1.5 billion in legal wagers nationally. The game's record-setting handle generates nine figures of revenue for sports betting companies, but the amount clients win or lose depends on the outcome.
This year, over 225 million Americans in 40 states and territories can legally bet on the Super Bowl.
Since 2018, the total Super Bowl betting handle in the US has grown annually and is expected to continue until 2025. In 2019, eight states participated to the first post-PASPA Super Bowl report, totaling more than $200 million in combined handling. In 2021, 21 markets reported volume of $500 million, which increased to $1 billion by 2023 from 35 markets. Last year's Super Bowl betting handle was estimated at approximately $1.3 billion.
This year's Super Bowl will be the largest legal betting event in US history, with participation from 38 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. This game typically accounts for 0.75% to 1.25% of a state's trailing 12 months handle, or approximately three to four average days of activity. The expected increase from 2024 mostly follows the underlying growth of the previous year.
The Super Bowl will be held in Louisiana for the third time, following Arizona (2023) and Nevada (2024), all of which have legal betting. Increased attendance at the Caesars Superdome is expected to stimulate local betting activity in the week leading up to the game.
The Eagles' participation bodes well for Pennsylvania bookmakers, which saw record activity in 2023. This year's clash with the Chiefs is expected to surpass the previous year's total of $84.3 million wagered by local bettors due to two years of improvement.
The overall impact of a given matchup on Super Bowl betting, however, is more reflective of overall interest in the game than the inclusion of any single market. In other words, the overall popularity of the teams and players involved appears to have a greater influence on total betting interest than any localized boost from their particular home markets (although based on a very small sample size).
The Chiefs and Eagles are two of the most polarizing teams in the country, with rosters full of the league's most popular players, including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Saquon Barkley. Taylor Swift's admission to the Super Bowl celebrity list draws attention to the Chiefs, despite Missouri's status as one of the few states without legal sports betting.
The Chiefs opened betting as -1.5 favorites, with a game total of 48.5.