Super Bowl 58 is in the books and while much of the conversation after the game centered around dynasties and missed opportunities, the most interesting story for the first Super Bowl ever played in Las Vegas was the staggering amount of money that was wagered on the game.
Nevada Sportsbooks have set a record after bettors wagered $185.6 million on the Super Bowl 58 at the 182 sportsbooks in the state. Per Sports Handle's Chris Altruda, that's an increase of 21% from Super Bowl 57, which was played in Glendale, Arizona and saw $153.2 million bet on the Chiefs and Eagles across Nevada. The previous record for the state was $179.8 million in Super Bowl 56 between the Bengals and Rams in 2022, which was played at nearby SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California.
Vegas Insider's Patrick Everson noted that a few operators expected to see a figure at or above $200 million with Vegas as the host city for the Super Bowl. While the state fell short of that number, it still managed to capitalize on the massive influx of people who flocked to Vegas over the week, which was estimated to be between 330,000 to 450,000.
"We should set a record every time Las Vegas is the host city," Jay Kornegay, Westgate's vice president of race and sports, told Everson Monday night.
NGCB Releases Figures Showing Record-Breaking $185.6 Million Wagered on Super Bowl in Nevada. pic.twitter.com/6QVxJhs4Cx
— Nevada Gaming Control Board (@NevadaGCB) February 13, 2024
The Nevada Gaming Control Board also released how much the state won on the record amount of bets that were placed in the sate for Super Bowl 58.
Despite the fact that this was the most-bet Super Bowl in the 33 years they've tracked the data, it didn't exactly translate into a record for how much the house won. Revenue was up from $4.3 million in 2023 to $6.8 million in 2024, a 56% increase year-over-year. However, that number is still down significantly compared to past years.
This is the first time since 2014 and 2015 that Nevada had back-to-back years below $10 million in revenue for the Super Bowl. Nevada made nearly as much in revenue on the Super Bowl in 2022 as it did in the past two Super Bowls combined and had topped $10 million in revenue for the Super Bowl in six of the past 10 years.
Some of that can be attributed to the fact that bettors were all over the Chiefs, who closed as underdogs, to cover the spread and to win outright. There was also the massive amount of attention on props, particularly for Travis Kelce with Taylor Swift in attendance. The game going into overtime didn't help either as one Caesars rep told Everson it was "the worst prop result [we had]," and likely gave bettors more opportunities to place live bets.
