Nevada Oddsmakers 30-2 in Super Bowls After Winning $11.2M on Kansas City Chiefs

Posted on: February 14, 2023, 08:27h. 

Last updated on: February 14, 2023, 03:06h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Nevada oddsmakers won Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII against their bettors, as sportsbooks kept $11.28 million of the $153.18 million wagered. It marks the 15th consecutive Super Bowl in which the house came out on top of the big game.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) said the Kansas City Chiefs 38-35 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles was in the house’s favor. The Chiefs easily covered the spread, as Kansas City was a 1.5-point underdog. The game’s total score of 73 points surged above the game’s 51.5-point over/under.

Nevada oddsmakers kept 7.4% of the bets for a net win of $11,287,594. Handle dropped almost 15% from a year ago, when the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals generated a handle of $179.8 million.

The $11.28 million profit wasn’t exactly strong for Nevada oddsmakers. Sunday’s Super Bowl ranked sixth among the previous 10 Super Bowls in terms of sportsbook hold.

The only two times that Nevada oddsmakers have lost money on the Super Bowl since 1991 — the first year the NGCB began tracking oddsmakers’ performance for the Super Bowl — came in 1995 and 2008.

Sportsbooks Handle Betting Frenzy

Legal sports betting in the US is still relatively new outside of Nevada. States only gained the legal freedom to determine their own laws on such gambling after the US Supreme Court in May 2018 repealed a federal law that limited single-game betting to Nevada.

Sportsbooks managed to facilitate the increased demand on their online platforms during the big game, as no major issues were reported. GeoComply, a company that assists online sportsbooks in pinpointing a bettor’s physical location to assure regulatory compliance, facilitated over 100 million geolocation checks during the Super Bowl weekend.

FanDuel said it accepted 50K bets per second at its peak. The sportsbook said it handled more than 17 million Super Bowl bets across the states where it operates.

BetMGM officials said they experienced their best Super Bowl ever in Nevada. The MGM Resorts sportsbook never took more bets on a game than it did on Sunday.

This was BetMGM’s most successful Super Bowl and most bet on single game sporting event ever,” a company statement explained.

BetMGM’s record-setting performance came despite the sportsbook paying out some notable bets, including a $500K wager on the Chiefs that paid out $525K and a $547K bet on the over that netted $437K.

The American Gaming Association estimates that 50.4 million US residents made some sort of bet on Super Bowl LVII. The DC-based gaming trade group believes around $16 billion was risked through legal and illegal channels.

Las Vegas 2024

With the 2022-23 NFL season officially over, the league begins its off-season, where teams will shuffle their rosters and prep their NFL Draft schemes in hopes of playing in Las Vegas this next time next year. Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, is set to host Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board looks forward to Allegiant Stadium hosting Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas next year,” said Kirk Hendrick, chair of the NGCB.

As for the game, the Chiefs are the early Super Bowl LVIII front-runners at +600. The Bengals are next at +850. The Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, and Eagles round out the top five at +900.