Super Bowl LVI lacks the star power of recent years. Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady finally retired, Patrick Mahomes couldn’t steer the Kansas City Chiefs back to the big game for the third year in a row, and Aaron Rodgers’ quest to return Green Bay to the NFL’s largest stage failed again.
But for bettors, it’s still one of the biggest days of the year. According to a survey conducted by the American Gaming Association, a record 31.4 million adults in the United States will bet on the Super Bowl, an increase of 35% from last year. And those bettors will wager $7.61 billion on the game featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams, $3.3 billion more than in 2021.
No Brady? No problem for sportsbooks and online betting sites.
“You have a young guy like Joe Burrow (of Cincinnati) and a big market like Los Angeles,” says AGA senior director, research David Forman during a phone interview. “The playoffs have been extremely exciting, and you have more widespread availability of legal betting and that all comes together to create a lot of enthusiasm and expectation for the game this year.”
Working with global decision intelligence firm Morning Consult, the AGA compiled the survey from interviews with 2,200 adults in the U.S.
Forman noted that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted last year’s betting and this year’s wagering should benefit from “things normalizing.”
But even more significant is the increase of legal sports betting market.
“Last year we only had 21 legalized states. This year we’re at 31 (counting the District of Columbia),” Forman says. “Between the people living in new markets and the people in existing markets who are now more aware of all their legal betting options and jumping on that bandwagon goes a long way to explaining why so many more people are going to bet this year, especially placing traditional bets with legal bookmakers.”
Arizona, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have launched sports betting since last Super Bowl.
76% of those surveyed stated that it’s important to bet through a legal operator – an increase of 11% compared with last year.
Other results from the survey:
- 18.2 million American adults will place traditional sports wagers online, at a retail sportsbook or with a bookie, up 78% from 2021.
- 18.5 million plan to bet casually with friends or as part of a pool or squares contest, up 23% from 2021.
That adds up to more than 36 million bettors, meaning that over 50% will bet through traditional wagers and casually.
“It’s encouraging that (legal sports betting on the Super Bowl) keeps going up every year,” Forman says, noting that it’s an 11% increase over 2021. “I think that a big part of that is consumers becoming more aware that there are legal and illegal sportsbooks and that they have an option.”
