The Super Bowl has become a quasi-national holiday, with friends, families and bettors gathering to watch the biggest sporting event in the United States.
It’s also become a gambler’s paradise, with a roster of bets available from who will win the opening coin flip to what flavor Gatorade will be doused on the winning coach.
According to an American Gaming Association estimate, Super Bowl LX will attract $1.76 billion in legal bets.
“No single event brings fans together like the Super Bowl, and this record figure shows just how much Americans enjoy sports betting as part of the experience,” AGA President and CEO Bill Miller said in a statement. “By choosing legal, regulated sportsbooks, fans are having fun while supporting a safe and responsible market.”
The betting estimate indicates continued growth and strength of the legal, state- and tribal-regulated sports betting market. But there are headwinds that may soon disrupt betting on the Super Bowl, and sports betting in general.
A new AGA survey indicates that prediction markets are confusing consumers by promoting sports betting as an investment rather than entertainment, highlighting concerns about how the products are marketed, and their lack of responsible gaming tools.
The AGA survey showed that 78% of sports event contract bettors believe state regulators could assist in resolving disputes on platforms, even though prediction markets operate entirely outside state sports betting regulatory frameworks. According to the AGA, these findings “underscore widespread confusion among sports event contract users on the regulatory oversight governing prediction markets.”
Sports event contract bettors are three times more likely than sportsbook bettors to frame their trading as an investment and 28% of sports event contract bettors describe their activity as investing, compared to 9% of sportsbook users.
Other findings from the AGA:
- 31% of sports event contract bettors report encountering trading or investing comparisons in platform messaging, versus 7% among sportsbook users.
- 25% of sports event contract bettors report funding activity from their investment budget, compared to 9% of sportsbook users.
- Though more than a quarter of sports event contract bettors believe they are investing, most sports event contract users (58%) still view the activity as gambling, suggesting some users distinguish between platform messaging and underlying risk.
Only 28% of sports event contract bettors say responsible gaming tools are easy to find on platforms, compared to 58% of sportsbook users. The AGA states this reflects substantially lower visibility and accessibility of safeguards on prediction market platforms.
“This research reinforces why state- and tribal-regulated sportsbooks are critical, offering strong oversight and consumer protections that prediction markets simply do not match,” Miller said.
The AGA’s Super Bowl LX estimate includes legal state regulated sports bets in the United States. The estimate is based on past state regulatory disclosures around the Super Bowl, historical revenue data, and other trends.
