Super Bowl Betting Handle Already Eclipses 2020’s Total

With just ten states reporting their results, this year’s Super Bowl betting handle of $420.1 million has already topped 2020’s total. The available numbers from the full or preliminary results from these ten states represent 60% more than the $262.5 million achieved by those states last year. More states have yet to report their figures that will only swell to the existing number to make a remarkable year, both for the Super Bowl and the national sports betting industry.

Last year, states with regulated sports betting reported nearly $280 million in handle, and the nationwide wagering was estimated to be almost $300 million. This year seems to be far bigger as only ten states have eclipsed 2020’s total handle with a fair margin. According to experts, the legal US sports betting market will see more than $500 million handle this year’s Super Bowl.

A major reason for the increased sports betting activity is obvious as seven more jurisdictions launched legal sports betting since last year’s Super Bowl concluded. These newly launched industries – Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee, Montana, Washington DC, Virginia, and Michigan – have contributed significantly to this year’s surpassing figures.

Nevada Tops Super Bowl Betting Handle 2021

The national leader for the Super Bowl 2021 is Nevada, the gambling capital of the US. It is remarkable that the Silver State managed to retain its leading role in Super Bowl handle despite restrictions on travel and casino occupancy limits. It is expected that Nevada will remain at the top as the final results pour in.

Nevada posted $136.1 million in bets on the Super Bowl, good for a 9.2% hold, which saw sportsbooks generate $12.6 million in revenue. However, the Silver State’s 2021 handle was a decline by its own standards as it dipped from last year’s $154.7 million. It was also the lowest for Nevada since it posted $132.5 million handle in 2016.

According to Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill sportsbook director, it is wasn’t for the global pandemic, New Jersey could have broken the all-time record with this year’s Super Bowl figures. He said, “People love coming to the Super Bowl parties here in Nevada. COVID knocked it out. It’s that simple.”

New Jersey & Pennsylvania, Runners Up

New Jersey, usually the national leader in monthly handles for successive months, stood second in this year’s Super Bowl handle. The Garden State’s 12 retail and 21 mobile sportsbooks posted $117.4 million in wagers on the game, representing a 116% higher handle than last year’s total. After payouts, New Jersey sportsbooks had $11.3 million, good for a 9.6% hold.

Pennsylvania sports betting reported $53.6 million, an increase of around 75% from 2020. The Keystone State’s sportsbooks have generated $9.4 million with a 17.5% hold.

Illinois, A Dark Horse

Interestingly, Illinois was the first to report Super Bowl figures, which was surprising as the Prairie State is two months behind other states in reporting monthly handle reports. With $45.6 million in Super Bowl handle, Illinois brought in exciting numbers to rank itself as the fourth among the ten states with released figures. Almost 93.7% of all bets came online, of which Illinois sportsbooks generated $7.7 million in revenue, which is good for an unusually high hold rate of 16.8%.

Other States’ Figures

• Delaware posted a total of $1.9 million in wagers this year, down from $2.1 million in 2020. The total win was $226,000.
• Oregon reported $3.5 million in bets through its lottery-run Scoreboard platform, generating $696,230 in revenue.
• Colorado sportsbooks reportedly took $31.2 million in wagers, including $16.9 million in-game bets and $14.3 million in futures.
• Iowa sports betting saw $16.3 million in wagers compared to $6.5 million posted last year.
• With retail-only service, Mississippi took $8 million in Super Bowl wagers.
• Rhode Island took nearly $6.5 million in bets, up from $5.5 million in 2020.