Super Bowl LVI will be watched by millions of fans around the world. Along with huge viewership numbers, the annual National Football League contest is expected to generate a huge sports betting handle.
What Happened: Several sports betting projections are out with estimates of how much money will be wagered on Super Bowl LVI before and while it is aired on NBC, a unit of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
PlayUSA is predicting that $1 billion in legal bets will be wagered at online and retail sportsbooks on Super Bowl LVI. The figure would be around double the amount wagered on the Super Bowl in 2021, according to the report.
“1 billion in legal wagering on a single game would be an impressive milestone for the industry,” PlayUSA lead analyst Dustin Gouker said.
The American Gaming Association estimates that $4.3 billion was bet on Super Bowl LV last year both legally and illegally. This year, the AGA is estimating that legal and illegal wagers will hit $7.6 billion, up 78% year-over-year.
According to the AGA, a record 31.4 million adults in the U.S. plan to bet on Super Bowl LVI, up 35% year-over-year.
Related Link: Super Bowl LVI NFTs Continue NFL Plartnership With Ticketmaster: Here Are The Details
Why It’s Important: As more states legalize sports betting, the total addressable market size for the industry has risen. A total of 30 states and Washington D.C. will be able to bet on Super Bowl LVI at retail locations or online.
Last year’s Super Bowl was legal for 21 states to bet on. PlayUSA reports that this year, 166.9 million people will be able to bet legally on the Super Bowl, compared to 120 million people last year.
“More than half of all Americans now live in a legal jurisdiction, and even well-established markets such as New Jersey and Nevada have grown significantly over the last year as mobile betting gains in popularity,” PlayUSA data analyst Eric Ramsey said.
New York residents will be able to bet online for Super Bowl LVI for the first time, news that comes as the state is already smashing records.
“It would have seemed impossible just a few years ago to reach such heights, but with the expansion of sports betting over the last year, it is inevitable that legal wagering will soar,” Gouker said.
Several sports betting companies will not only participate in Super Bowl LVI with offering wagering but also highlight their product with Super Bowl commercials. Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR), DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG) and FanDuel are all reported to have Super Bowl commercials.
The overall sports betting industry could benefit from the large estimates for Super Bowl LVI, which could help the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (NYSE:BETZ), which owns a basket of sports betting stocks.
One item that will be closely watched this year is how well the sports betting apps perform. Many apps suffered outages before Super Bowl LV, with software-as-a-service provider Kambi taking blame.
DraftKings switched to its own tech provider and many other companies are shifting to include their own provider to avoid issues.
Caesars could be the most interesting name to watch, as it held the early market share lead in New York. DraftKings, FanDuel and MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) joint venture BetMGM continue to lead the market as the top three and could be in for record numbers.
