$185.5 million legally wagered on Super Bowl
LAS VEGAS — Football fans in three states legally bet almost $185.5 million on the Super Bowl this year, with sportsbooks ending Sunday with mixed results and Nevada operators seeing the first drop in the total amount wagered on the game since 2015.
The game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams was the first major professional sporting event to be posted on the boards of sportsbooks outside Nevada. All opened after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a federal ban on wagering on sports last year.
Figures released Monday by gambling regulators in Nevada show people wagered $145.94 million at the state’s 200 sportsbooks, $12.65 million less than in 2018. Sportsbooks operators in New Jersey accepted about $34.9 million in wagers and lost money, while in Mississippi, fans bet around $4.67 million at non-tribal casinos.
Nevada’s effective monopoly on sports betting ended last spring, when the Supreme Court ruled the ban should be lifted. Casinos in seven other states — Rhode Island, Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Mexico — now accept wagers on sports. The list is expected to grow by next year.
New Jersey gambling regulators said sportsbooks lost $4.6 million when they paid $39.5 million to those who won bets.
