Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Super Bowl bettors lost $12.5 million in Nevada sports books

Super Bowl 55

Mark Humphrey / AP

Fans cheer during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021, in Tampa, Fla.

Nevada sports books hauled in an eight-figure win on the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 31-9 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that the state’s combined 184 sports books scored a $12,574,125 profit on the game. That’s the sixth-most since the state began tracking in 1991.

The total amount of wagers came out to $136,096,460, a near $18 million decline from last season but an impressive figure nonetheless with tourism figures down in the wake of the pandemic and legalized sports betting having grown nationally.

The handle and profit figures mean sports books held 9.2%, the 12th most all-time and a decline from 12.1% a year ago. The Buccaneers’ victory and the game going under the total of 56 points were both beneficial results for the house.

Although the majority of the largest wagers came in on the Buccaneers, most of the tickets were on the Chiefs. Both BetMGM and William Hill, two of the largest sports books in the state, reported more than 60% of the bets on the Chiefs.

Most of the proposition wagers were also victories for the house, especially player-based options as the majority of stars in the game went under their posted totals. Tight ends Travis Kelce and Rob Gronkowski were two notable exceptions, as they were popularly-bet players who both flew over most of their prop-bet numbers.

Bettors struggled mightily in Nevada this football season as sports books set a record in November with $56 million won on the sport. The Super Bowl helped pad casinos’ bottom lines even more.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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