GeoComply NFL Week 1 Report Shows Record Betting Activity

Article ByDavid Weir

September 13, 2023

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Posted in: US Sports Betting News, US Gambling News

The first week of the NFL season has always been a significant event for U.S. sports betting. However, a recent report indicates that the online betting activity during the NFL’s opening week surpassed all expectations.

GeoComply is the geolocation data and restriction provider for nearly all 24 legal state markets. It recorded an impressive 242.3 million transactions over the week, according to its newly published report.

These transactions are initiated when an online sportsbook account holder attempts to place a bet. The geolocation checks ensure that the bettor is in a state where the sportsbook in question is licensed to operate.

GeoComply’s data reveals that during the first week of the NFL season, spanning from September 3 to September 10, there were 242.3 million transactions. That’s a 56% increase in wagers compared to the same period in 2022.

The opening week of the NFL season also saw a surge in new player account registrations.

GeoComply reported assisting with over 1.1 million new player account sign-ups during this period. Ohio’s bettors led the way, with approximately 133,000 new online sportsbook registrations, followed by 61,000 new accounts at Maryland online sportsbooks and 59,000 players signing up in Massachusetts

GeoComply and Powerful Data

GeoComply’s proprietary technology, PinPoint, plays a pivotal role in U.S. online betting, with much of the legal framework resting on its services.

It determines the physical location of an online sportsbook or iGaming customer using Wi-Fi, GPS, and cellphone tower signals. Moreover, PinPoint can detect attempts by users to hide their real location using virtual private networks (VPNs).

The operator’s data can also tell on what platform bettors are playing from. Mobile sports betting apps dominated desktop competition, with 97% of NFL wagers being placed from a mobile device.

Although not specifically under GeoComply’s data model, the report shows live in-game betting is clearly hugely popular with football betting customers.

When the Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown hit the first touchdown of the season against the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs last Thursday night, GeoComply’s traffic (essentially meaning wagers) spiked to moe than 4,200 transactions a second.

That’s the highest it has measured in NFL opening week since it started tracking data across legal sports betting states in 2018.

Blocked Bets

While the 242.3 million geolocation checks indicate the volume of betting activity, it doesn’t necessarily translate to successful bets.

GeoComply also reported that it blocked more than one million requests from states where online sports betting remains illegal. For instance, Missouri, where online sports betting is not yet legalized, saw the highest number of blocked geolocation checks at 553,000.

Mississippi followed with 262,000 blocked requests, given that sports betting in the state is only allowed in-person at casinos. Georgia also had 92,000 online sportsbook requests intercepted and denied.

This demonstrated huge popularity of NFL betting across accepted and rejected bets. It also goes to show how many people were betting on college football in the U.S last week too. One popular NCAA Division I matchup, the Colorado Buffaloes vs the Nebraska Cornhuskers, attracted more bets than any single NFL week 1 game – and more than most of the week’s pro games combined.