Super wagers: $7.6B expected to be bet on Super Bowl LVI would shatter record

Pittsburgh might not be going to the Super Bowl, but Western Pennsylvanians are joining a record-breaking number of Americans placing bets on who will win Sunday’s game.

Super Bowl LVI, which pits the Los Angeles Rams against the Cincinnati Bengals, is expected to draw a record 31.4 million Americans to wager an estimated $7.6 billion on the game legally, illegally and through casual bets, according to the American Gaming Association. That’s 78% more than last year’s anticipated $4.3 billion Super Bowl total — and would eclipse the record $6.8 billion bet on the championship game two years ago.

Approximately three out of four people are expected to place legal wagers online this year versus at a retail sportsbook, data show. The growth of online sportsbooks has taken off, with several legal options available through mobile apps including Bet MGM, FanDuel and ones developed by local casinos, including BetRivers.

Still, the anticipated increase in people placing bets this year already was showing up at local casinos, which had been fielding wagers since L.A. and Cincinnati won their conference championships two weeks ago. Early bettors at Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Live! Casino Pittsburgh at Westmoreland Mall have favored the Rams (which opened as a 4-point favorite at most sportsbooks) to take home the Vince Lombardi trophy.

“At every sportsbook in America, the Super Bowl and March Madness are their two marquee events, and the NFL’s been (having) a great run for … 18 weeks,” said Sean Sullivan, general manager of Live! Casino in Hempfield. “We’ve seen a good turnout, we’ve seen increasing numbers, so we expect the Super Bowl to be receiving more bets here.”

Local interest

By mid-week, the Rivers sportsbook in Pittsburgh had already seen more wagers than in previous years, said Andre Barnabei, senior vice president of gaming operations.

“People have come to begin to enjoy it and come to make it part of their regular experience,” he said. “You still have a lot of novice people that maybe it’s the first time and they want to come out and bet what people call the fun bets, which are traditionally the prop bets. Who’s going to win the coin toss, or is the first play of the game going to be a run or a pass?”

Carl Nelson, 59, of Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover neighborhood was one of several people wagering at Rivers’ betting kiosks on Thursday.

Nelson, who wanted to place his bets before going out of town, typically wagers on the Super Bowl as well as other sports throughout the year. This year, he put his money on the Bengals.

“Cincinnati, I feel they’ve got a better offense,” he said. “They’re more consistent, so (I’m) putting the big money on them.”

Nate Freeman, 47, of Pittsburgh’s North Side, also planned to bet in favor of Cincinnati, because he likes “going with the underdog.”

Nelson noted that he likes sports betting because of the odds. He added that he enjoys going to the casino rather than placing bets online because of the atmosphere.

“At home, you can sit there and spend more money, believe it or not, because you can just push a button,” he said. “(At the) casino, you’ve got the money in your hand and your pocket, (and) you can only play so much. It’s more safe. You can go overboard at home.”

At Live! Casino at the Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield, Stephanie Lucas of Greensburg was playing a parlay with a $750 payout: the Rams to win, the Bengals to cover the point spread and the total points to be under 48.5.

Ross Piraino of Penn Township was playing the prop bets on the big game, but he bet on the Rams, featuring Penn Hills superstar Aaron Donald, to win the game. Piraino said he keeps up with the stats of players because he plays fantasy football.

Bill Forsythe of Tarrs was betting on the Rams to win, but he also was playing for his cousin, who wanted to put money on the Bengals to pull it off.

The gambling action at Live! Casino has definitely picked up in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, said Anthony Zrelak, the sports manager at Live! Casino. Some customers, not worrying about the countless prop bets on which they can wager, will wait until Sunday to see the final point spread before putting their money down, Zrelak said. They want to see who has returned from the injured list and who the team has on its active roster, Zrelak said

Interest in sports betting has skyrocketed since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prevented most states from legalizing sports betting. Until then, Nevada was the only state allowed to accept wagers on the outcomes of games. The Supreme Court ruling came in a lawsuit filed by New Jersey officials, who challenged the constitutionality of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Pennsylvania opened its first legal sportsbooks later that year. The state now has 13 retail sportsbooks, two off-track betting parlors that accept bets on other sports and more than six online betting apps available to consumers, according to Play Pennsylvania.

In 2021 alone, sportsbooks in Pennsylvania took $6.5 billion in wagers, resulting in casino revenues of $340 million and $122.5 million in taxes for the state.

Of money wagered last year, $53.6 million was bet at sportsbooks during the Super Bowl — a 75% increase from the $30.6 million wagered in 2020.

Fueled by growth

Similar trends are being seen nationally as interest peaks and more states legalize in-person and online sportsbooks.

Sports betting is legal in 30 states plus Washington, D.C., according to the AGA. Three states, including Ohio, have legalized sports betting although sportsbooks are not yet up and running. Seven more states have pending legislation to legalize sports gambling.

“Nationwide, sports betting handles are up more than 150% this year,” said Dave Forman, head of research at AGA. “We’ve seen 11 states launch in 2021. So just the expansion alone, when you couple that with the growth of mature markets, there’s no question that the Super Bowl’s probably going to shatter last year’s record.”

States that legalized sports betting within the past year have seen exponential growth. New York, which launched mobile sports betting in January, saw $1.6 billion in online sports bets last month, breaking a record set by Arizona and surpassing a one-month record set last year by New Jersey, CBS News reported.

Growth related to sports betting is not expected to slow anytime soon as mature markets such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada educate consumers on legal options. In addition, other states still could legalize sports betting, including large states such as California, Texas, Massachusetts and Florida, Forman said.

“That would provide a huge boost to those legal numbers, so I think it has a long way to go,” Forman said.

Going legit

As the legal industry continues to grow across the country, illegal offshore markets and local bookies are likely being impacted, especially during events such as the Super Bowl.

“People have been betting on the Super Bowl for a long time, and you don’t see these really, really fast launches like we did in New York and now Louisiana because people just today decided, ‘I’m going to start betting on sports because it’s legal and I live here,’ ” Forman said. “These people have been betting on sports for a long time, and now they’re moving to legal options.”

How much illegal markets are being impacted is unknown, but 76% of Americans this year said it’s important to bet through a legal operator during the Super Bowl — up 11% from 2021, according to the AGA. In addition, 18.2 million people will place traditional sports wagers online, at a retail sportsbook or with a bookie. That is a 78% increase from 2021.

It was not clear what percentage of online wagers will be placed illegally.

Despite legalized options, about 18.5 million people plan to bet casually with friends as part of a pool or squares contest, up 23% from 2021.

“Things like March Madness or Super Bowl squares are sort of such an ingrained part of the betting tradition for those kinds of particular events that I’m not sure that the impact is going to be that great,” Forman said. “I think people are going to do those kind of fun, social betting activities that they do with their friends.”

Kevin Smith, 45, of Johnstown, who sat in the sportsbook at Rivers on Thursday afternoon, said he rarely wagers on the Super Bowl through retail or online sportsbooks.

Instead, Smith said he participates in pools with friends because “it makes the game a little bit more interesting to see if your number comes up.”

Locally, Rivers and Live! Casino are expecting crowds to increase as the Super Bowl draws closer. Both are hosting watch parties and various events leading up to the game.

“It’s a big activity, and the good news is this year it’s all legal and regulated and being handled on the up and up,” Sullivan said.

Barnabei added that several people from Ohio, where sports betting will soon be legal, will likely trek to Pennsylvania to place their wagers, adding to the crowds.

“Right now, Ohio doesn’t have sports betting, and so we get a fair amount of people that come to visit us from the Ohio area — and you’ve got an Ohio team in there this year,” Barnabei said. “For all those reasons, I’m very excited about … this weekend.”