There’s a reason those buildings in Las Vegas are so big and bright and full of money: the sportsbooks win and they win a lot. So when you hear that a Super Bowl generated *record-setting revenue* for the state of Nevada, you should take notice.
And Super Bowl LIX apparently did just that. According to David Purdham of ESPN, Nevada sportsbooks hauled in a state-record $22.1 million during the Eagles 40-22 beatdown of the Chiefs.
That total beat out the previous best sportsbook win of $19.7 million when the Seahawks beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. Those two games being the top drivers of revenue isn’t a coincidence: in both cases you had a high-flying offensive team largely stifled and blown out by an elite defensive team in a game that only saw a handful of offensive touchdowns relative to the high score.
What makes this even more shocking is the handle (aka the amount wagered on the game) was actually way down from last year, with “only” $151.6 million being wagered, compared to the previous year’s Super Bowl which saw $190.0 million wagered on the matchup between the Chiefs and 49ers.
I wouldn’t chalk that up to people being less interested in betting — last year’s game being IN Las Vegas probably brought in significantly greater big bets for high rollers (and casual fans) who were attending the game and betting in the state of Nevada. Michael Lawtson, a senior economic analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board, agreed in the assessment he provided ESPN.
“As we had anticipated this year’s total did not surpass last year’s all-time record,” Lawton said. “Obviously not having the game at Allegiant [Stadium] was a contributing factor in addition to not having a team from neighboring California play in the game like last year.”
On the other hand, per Purdham, it’s the lowest total wagered on a Super Bowl since 2021, when the Chiefs and Buccaneers squared off.
Perhaps the biggest killer of the public was the lack of a Saquon Barkley touchdown or Travis Kelce production. The Eagles running back was around -200 to score in the Super Bowl and was a huge piece of many different parlays. Kelce, notably, didn’t, um, have his best game of the postseason, as he would readily admit.
“Super Bowl LIX was the single biggest betting event in the history of BetMGM — it took the most bets and was one of the best single game results in company history,” Christian Cipollini, Senior Trading Manager at BetMGM said in a statement released by the sportsbook. “Super Bowl bettors cashed in on Eagles money line and Jalen Hurts Super Bowl MVP, but both defenses slowing down Saquon Barkley and Travis Kelce netted a great result for us.”
It’s pretty remarkable that Hurts scored the first touchdown (second most tickets), the Eagles rolled (56% of the handle) and because of all the other ways in which certain pieces failed, the sportsbooks still raked in cash.
Not that anyone is going to feel bad for a casino or sportsbook, but it is worth noting the huge Super Bowl win comes on the heels of the first losing month — December 2024 saw the Nevada books net negative $2.1 million — since November 2012.
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