Go figure — Vegas won big on Sunday.
With the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, Nevada sportsbooks raked in massive amounts of cash, as bettors were confident in Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes leading the Chiefs to a historic three-peat.
According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the sportsbooks made a whopping $22.1 million off bettors this Super Bowl, surpassing the previous record set during Super Bowl XLVIII, when sportsbooks raked in $19.7 million after the Seattle Seahawks blew out the Denver Broncos 43-8 in 2014.
While the sportsbooks earned record profits, the total handle at Nevada sportsbooks was down around 20% from last year’s Super Bowl. Compared to last year’s record of almost $190 million in total bets when the Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers met in Las Vegas, the sportsbooks recorded just over $151 million worth of wagers this year.
BetMGM Nevada Director of Trading Lamarr Mitchell said the game was a best-case scenario for the sportsbooks with Eagles moneyline and over 48.5 total points cashing.
In a conversation with Chad Millman, Action Network’s Chief Content Officer, Craig Mucklow, the VP of Trading at Caesars, revealed that the most popular ticket at his sportsbook this year was Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to score a touchdown.
Barkley was held to just 57 yards on 25 carries with no score, which helped the sportsbooks win big on one of the most wagered-on props of the championship game.
Jeff Benson, Director of Operations at Circa Sports, added that Travis Kelce’s quiet performance also netted the sportsbooks lots of cash.
While BetMGM Nevada accepted some near-million dollar moneyline bets on the Eagles close to kickoff, “it still [wasn’t] eclipsing our Chiefs future liability,” said BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini.
As other states tallied their Super Bowl betting data, the numbers point to yet another rough night for the public. According to figures from the Division of Gaming Enforcement, New Jersey sportsbooks netted more than $25 million on this year’s Super Bowl.
Even though it was a historically successful football season for the betting public, the sportsbooks have to be happy with the results from Sunday’s season finale.
