Americans are expected to gamble $6 billion on the Super Bowl.
From friendly wagers to barroom pools to traditional betting with bookmakers — both legal and illegal — an estimated $6 billion will be wagered by Americans on the Super Bowl, according to survey results released Monday by the American Gaming Association, a trade group representing the casino industry.
Nearly 10 percent of American adults plan to bet on the Super Bowl in one way or another, according to the survey, and they are divided on which team to back. Fifty-two percent of the 2,201 surveyed said they would be betting on the Rams, with the other 48 percent planning to back the Patriots.
“The interest in legal, regulated sports betting in the United States has never been higher,” Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, said in a release announcing the survey results. “More Americans than ever before will be able to place their bets with legal sportsbooks now operating in eight states.”
Tom Brady is listed as the favorite to win the Super Bowl MVP.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook opened Brady as the favorite at EVEN odds ($100 bet would win $100) to win MVP of Super Bowl LIII. Los Angeles Rams QB Jared Goff is the only other player with odds in single digits at 2-1.
“The quarterback for the team favored in the Super Bowl is almost always the MVP favorite,” Ed Salmons, vice president of risk management and oddsmaking at the SuperBook, told ESPN. “Brady was actually minus money last year and against the Falcons.”
Sports betting is expanding quickly throughout the United States as states are having “FOMO.”
“It has certainly moved a lot faster than anyone thought it would,” said Slane, the association’s senior vice president for public affairs and lead sports betting lobbyist, during a conference call Wednesday.
More than half of the pending bills allow mobile wagering, which will give access to those residents that don’t live near a casino.
“States are not taking their foot off the gas pedal in being able to offer” mobile wagering, she said.
A record $5 billion was wagered legally in Nevada last year.
Bettors bet more — and lost more ($301 million) — in 2018 than in any other year since Nevada Gaming Control began archiving sports betting revenue in 1988. The $301 million net win for the books smashed the record of $248.7 million set in 2017.
The amount wagered at Nevada sportsbooks has increased to record levels in each of the last nine years. Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for Nevada Gaming Control, attributed consistent growth to healthy local and national economies and the increase in popularity of in-play wagering, where bettors place bets throughout a game or event.
“The state continues to see more regional and national tourists seek out the sports book when the visit properties,” Lawton told ESPN. “This can be attributed to the continued national press stories and the unique experience Nevada casinos offer for sports betting, including the Super Bowl and March Madness.”
New Jersey sportsbooks will be able to take bets on the Academy Awards.
New Jersey regulators are allowing NJ sportsbooks to take action on the Academy Awards.
It will be the first time that legal betting on the Oscars will take place in the United States. Nevada, despite having legal wagering for decades, has never taken action on the Oscars.
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