Research from the American Gaming Association suggests that a record number of Americans are set to bet on the Super Bowl this weekend.
New research from the American Gaming Association (AGA) suggests that approximately 23.2m Americans will wager a combined $4.3bn on Super Bowl LV this Sunday.
If accurate, this would be the largest legal US sports betting handle of any single sporting event in history.
The AGA’s research
The AGA commissioned Morning Consult to carry out the research which involved conducting a weighted survey of 2,198 adults.
According to the findings, 23.2m Americans are expected to wager a combined $4.3bn across licensed and unlicensed platforms, as well as privately with friends, on the Super Bowl LV matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend.
Of the 23.2m bettors, 7.6m are expected to place bets online, marking a 63% increase from 2020’s number.
Other betting methods saw a decline which is partly due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and continued regulation of online gambling across the US.
A total of 1.4m people are expected to bet on the event in person which is down 61% year-on-year while those expected to bet with a bookie is also down 21% to 1.8m people.
The number of people who plan to place a pool, squares or similar bets on the game was down 19% to 4.5m people, while 11.9m people plan to casually bet against friends.
The AGA did not outline the total legal betting handle however it is predicted to be the largest total in history.
AGA President and CEO Bill Miller said: “This year’s Super Bowl is expected to generate the largest single-event legal handle in American sports betting history. With a robust legal market, Americans are abandoning illegal bookies and taking their action into the regulated marketplace in record numbers.”
The growth in handle for the event can be attributed to the launch of legal online betting in six new states which meant that more people would be able to legally bet on the event.
Of those who plan to bet on the game, 56% will bet on the Chiefs to win while 44% will back the Buccaneers.
Sports betting in the US
Since the fall of PASPA in 2018, the legal and regulated US sports betting market has seen exponential growth.
Currently, 25 states, as well as Washington DC, have legalised sports betting and of those 25 states, 21 markets are live and operational. An additional 13 states are currently in the process of considering sports wagering legislation.
In 2020, more than $21bn was wagered on sporting events across the country, up from $13bn in 2019. This generated more than $210m in state and local tax revenue.
Online and mobile wagering also saw a massive increase in popularity in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, with 82% of legal sports bets being made via mobile sportsbooks.
