Super Bowl: Nevada A Winner, New Jersey Not

Super Bowl Sunday may have been a win for the Patriots and a loss for the Rams, but when it came to sports betting, the results were just the opposite. According to revenue reports posted by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the East Coast lost while the West Coast won.

The DGE reported that its New Jersey sportsbooks took a $4.6 million loss on $34.9 million wagered after New England won its sixth Super Bowl since 2002, defeating Los Angeles, 13-3, in the lowest-scoring game in Super Bowl history. Nevada sportsbooks, conversely, won $10.8 million on $145.9 million wagered.

New Jersey sportsbooks, which likely took the lions’ share of their bets on the Patriots to win, had a negative hold of about 13 percent across 10 brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and 11 mobile sportsbooks. New Jersey became the second state to launch sports betting last June after the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act on May 14, 2018.

Nevada sportsbooks won $10,780,319 off of $145,939,025 bets on the Super Bowl, per Nevada Gaming Control. [Includes futures (odds to win Super Bowl)]

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) February 4, 2019

Nevada Super Bowl handle down compared to 2018

While Nevada sportsbooks can call their 7.4 percent hold a “win” as compared to New Jersey, Silver State sportsbooks  may have felt the pinch of the spread of legalized sports betting, as total handle fell from $158 million in 2018, when Nevada was the only state to offer legal sports betting. A year later, six states were open to take legal sports bets for the Super Bowl. Revenue reports for Super Bowl Sunday were not immediately available from Delaware, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island or West Virginia.

Prior to this year, Nevada set records for Super Bowl handle in each of the last three years. Another factor that could have played into the decline in wagers placed is the Patriots’ dynasty.

“People are tired of the Patriots,” Westgate sportsbook manager Ed Salmons told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I really think the Patriots’ fatigue thing played a role. Everybody wanted to see the Chiefs against the Saints or the Rams. I’d be willing to bet if the Chiefs were in the game, the handle would’ve [blown] away last year’s record.”

With this NFL season in the books, it's never too early to look ahead!

Who takes home the crown 👑 next year? pic.twitter.com/9zmw6gE5wD

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) February 4, 2019

Both FanDuel andDraftKings  reported Super Bowl losses, according to the Review-Journal. FanDuel lost nearly $5 million and DraftKings lost just over $1 million. FanDuel credits much of its losses to a new customer sign-up promotion. According to a company press release, it took more than 350,000 Super Bowl bets, including parlays, and customers wagered more than $2 million on over 430 prop-bet options.

“After opening at +1 on New England, customers quickly pumped money on the Patriots and didn’t stop. By kick off, 75% of money was on the Pats,” according to a FanDuel statement. “In addition, new customers took advantage of a great sign up offer for the Super Bowl this week that won them $265 on a $5 bet with odds of 53-1. All of this combined to leave New England as a big loser for the FanDuel Sportsbook. Very big in fact. We estimate our customers won almost $5 million from us on the Big Game (net winnings).”

The company is already offering odds on next year’s champion.