The Nevada Gaming Control Board released figures on Monday showing that Nevada sportsbooks fielded a collective $158.6 million in wagers on Super Bowl LII between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.
After a thrilling offensive explosion that saw the Eagles clip the Patriots 41-33 to deliver Philly the franchises’ first ever Lombardi trophy, Nevada’s 198 sportsbooks tallied all their tickets, amounting to a $1.17 million win for just a hold percentage of 0.7%. For the books, better a narrow win than a rare loss as most shops had liability on the game total over 48 or 49, plus overs on a lot of yardage and touchdown props in a game devoid of defense. The Eagles and Pats combined for a record 1,151 yards about 20 more offensive records.
Record $158.6 Million Nevada Sportsbooks Betting Handle on Super Bowl LII Between Eagles and Patriots Results in Very Narrow Profit for the House
The total handle of $158.6 million marks a roughly 14.5% increase over the previous Nevada record handle of $138.5 million. This is now the fourth year out of past five that Nevada has sean a new record handle.
No two books of the 198 in Nevada handled the same amount of action on sides or the myriad props offered around the state, but if everything was equal, based on a $1.17 million win, every book would have come away with just $5,911 in profit.
To illustrate that things were certainly not equal, William Hill reported taking a bath:
“It was a multi-million dollar loss for William Hill Sports Book on Sunday. Three bets alone, all seven-figures, cashed for a total $4,634,782. In addition to those three tickets, the majority of bettors (by # of tickets) were correct in picking the right side of the point spread (54% of tickets on the Eagles), money line (75% of tickets on the Eagles), and total (56% of tickets on the OVER).”
VSiN’s Dave Tuley has some more nuggets about how the chips fell:
From @JayKornegay at the @LVSuperBook: "When the smoke clears, I'm hoping for a small win. It was a small winner on the game but we got destroyed on props." @VSiNLive
— Dave Tuley (@ViewFromVegas) February 5, 2018
Tony Nevill of @TIvegas said: “We did OK on our futures and on the game, but gave it almost all back in the props. It seemed every player went over on their yards. And will they score a TD? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So, yes, it was all over at the TI.”
— Dave Tuley (@ViewFromVegas) February 5, 2018
It's clear that except for the Eagles, the biggest winner of #SB52 was "Bettor X" as he won as estimated $11 million in money-line wagers on the Eagles while Nevada's 198 sports books only won a combined $1.17 million https://t.co/9OCzrOmBwd @VSiNLive @brentmusburger @VSiNVinny
— Dave Tuley (@ViewFromVegas) February 5, 2018
“Bettor X,” who made a name for himself anonymously during a World Series run resulting in over $10 profit at the expense of various books, backed the Eagles for another eight-digit profit.
Prior to LII, the American Gaming Association had (conservatively) estimated that Nevada sportsbooks would see another $138.5 million in wagers. That would have matched last year but here you can see how the handle has steadily rose over the past decade with just one blip from 2014 to 2015:
Westgate LV SuperBook Manager Jeff Sherman projects another increase in the Nevada sportsbook Super Bowl betting handle next year.
The #SuperBowl betting handle set a new record in 2018 at $158.6M & @GolfOdds expects that to increase again next year "Maybe not by $20M…" #FollowTheMoney on @SIRIUSXM 204 @MitchMossRadio @paulyhoward #FlyEaglesFly #GoPats pic.twitter.com/rhpZdpb00t
— VSiN (@VSiNLive) February 6, 2018
But perhaps things change between this Super Bowl and next with a couple dozen states looking to get in on the action — pending, of course, the outcome of Christie v NCAA, aka the Supreme Court Sports Betting Case. Stay tuned here for all legislative developments, on the court case, and how states may proceed whether the case ends favorably or unfavorably for states ready to move.
Also check out from SportsHandle:
Here’s What $4.7B In Illegal Super Bowl LII Wagers Could Mean For States [Chart]
West Virginia Sports Betting Bill Would Permit Wagering at Five Casinos and Online
