The Super Bowl has helped bring Sin City back.
Las Vegas is a town of bright lights and big experiences, but with the pandemic dimming the city's shine and online betting possibly upending a big chunk of its business model, the take from this weekend's big game has to feel good for Vegas.
The Super Bowl was the first major event since Nevada ended its indoor mask mandate and, while the game was not a high-profile matchup, it was expected to be competitive. Since the mask requirement was dropped just a few days before the big game, it was unclear exactly what its impact on betting would be.
Would MGM Resorts Internationals (MGM) and Caesars (CZR) many Las Vegas Strip properties see a big influx of gamblers? The answer turned out to be a resounding"yes."
Nevada's 179 sports books took in nearly $180 million in wagers for Super Bowl LVI as the Los Angeles Rams topped the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20. That total lapped last year's $136.1 million total and eclipsed the previous all-time record of $158.6 million set in 2018, according to a report from the.
That's a big recovery for a city which same 2020's March Madness -- usually one of the biggest gambling events of the year -- canceled and saw the previous Super Bowl happen under very muted circumstances. Add in the explosion in popularity of online gaming and there was certainly some uncertainty for the classic brick-and-mortar sportsbooks as to whether people would come back.
All told, the books made $15.4 million off of Sunday's game, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, for an 8.6% hold (or win) percentage.
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Legal Sports Betting Helped Derail Vegas Bets
Nevada set Super Bowl betting records for three consecutive years between 2016 and 2018.
Then the books took a hit in May 2018 after the Supreme Court struck down a 1992 federal law that effectively banned commercial sports betting in most states.
While widespread adoption of sports gambling was still a year off for many places, Nevada immediately felt the hit.
2019 was just the second time in 10 years that the sports betting handle on the Super Bowl fell from the previous year. The $146 million in wagers that year was down from $158 million the previous year.
The 2020 Super Bowl produced nearly $154.7 million in wagers, this uptick happened before the pandemic hit in late February/early March, and was a good sign for the state of Nevada, whose economy relies heavily on gambling.
There are now 30 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allow sports betting which could eat into Vegas books going forward.
But 2022's Super Bowl haul shows that the city and state remain a destination for gamblers.
Las Vegas Puts Pandemic Issues in the Rearview
Betters wagered just $136.1 million in Nevada's sportsbooks on the Super Bowl in 2021 as pandemic lockdowns and social distancing rules in the state dampened business.
While the take was the lowest since 2016, it was still the fourth-highest total recorded since 2012, showing just how much more popular sports betting is now than it was a decade ago, even under conditions that were less than ideal.
"This year there was a normal Super Bowl party environment with COVID-19 restrictions, including mask requirements, being lifted. … in addition to the continued acceptance of mobile sports wagering by customers, which allow the books to offer a wider variety of betting options with proposition bets and increased in-play wagering," NGCB senior analyst Michael Lawton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
This year's big game was solidified by some big bets.
Caesars, for example, took in three $1 million-plus bets in Vegas while BetMGM took three $1 million bets at Bellagio.
