States New to Sports Betting Anticipate Big Super Bowl Profits

The highly anticipated Super Bowl 54 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers marked a new milestone for sports betting in America. With 14 states in America having some form of legal betting option, experts are predicting that Super Bowl 54 will have been the most bet on sporting events in the history of the country.

A report by CNBC stated this week that roughly $6.8 billion dollars will have been bet on the big game. The staggering figure includes legal, illegal and friendly wagers such as an office pool or other daily fantasy sports offerings.

According to the American Gaming Association, roughly four million Americans will have legally bet at a physical sportsbook, another five million will have bet with online operators, both legal and illegal, and finally, another 16 million will have bet with friends, co-workers or through some other type of betting game.

In two states and Washington D.C, the Super Bowl created a firestorm of excitement. For Indiana and New Hampshire, the excitement is positive as both states look forward to the windfall that the Super Bowl is expected to have brought, while in Washington D.C., the delay to bring sports betting to the district will have cost operators hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Before the Chiefs defeated the 49ers by the score of 31-20 in Super Bowl 54, sportsbooks in Indiana were celebrating a large game-specific handle before kickoff. Super Bowl 54 was the first NFL championship game that the Indiana sportsbooks have enjoyed since legalization just happened in September.

Indiana casinos have already enjoyed a prosperous first four months as bettors have placed $436 million dollars in bets during the first four months of legal wagering in the Hoosier State.

Indiana is poised to have their biggest month so far as the NFL playoffs and NBA fuel what looks to be a terrific January at the wagering window.

New Hampshire Bookmakers Poised to Enjoy Big Super Bowl Handle

This will also be the first Super Bowl that can legally be wagered upon in the Granite State after Gov. Chris Sununu opened the doors to legal sports gambling with his $82 futures bet on the Patriots to win the SuperBowl.

Although Gov. Sununu’s ticket didn’t cash out, the state has been reaping early returns from the over $17.2 million that has been bet so far in New Hampshire. The state expects to have made $10 million in the first year of betting with the Super Bowl being a huge factor in the bottom line.

In New Hampshire, DraftKings has a total monopoly over the state’s betting and that arrangement came at a big price as the state gets 50% of the company’s profits. During the first month of betting in New Hampshire, the state brought in roughly $1.2 million in total revenue.

Why Washington D.C.’s Betting Delay Is Costing Operators Thousands of Dollars

Although Washington D.C. has legalized sports betting, the district has experienced a several month delay due to lawsuits and a scandal that cost one council member his job. The delay made it impossible to offer the Super Bowl to bettors in the district and one expert believes those decisions cost operators and the local government hundreds of thousands in tax revenue.

“(The Super Bowl) is the biggest betting day of the year,” said Jeff Ifrah, an attorney that is heading Bet DC, a local group of businesses in the D.C. area that will offer sports betting. “The whole entire idea of rushing through that legislation was to get that contract … up and running. And that didn’t happen.”

source: nbcwashington.com

Ifrah estimates that roughly $500,000 was lost by betting operators and local businesses through the delay. Although the district missed out on the Super Bowl, there is hope that the district’s mobile app will be ready sometime in March before the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.