Record $185.6M bet on SB with Nevada books

The Super Bowl thriller between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas set betting records at Nevada sportsbooks.

More than $185.6 million was bet on Super Bowl LVIII with the state’s sportsbooks, the most ever, according to unaudited figures released Tuesday. The amount wagered eclipsed the previous high on the Super Bowl, in 2022, by nearly $6 million.

The state’s 182 sportsbooks squeaked out a $6.8 million win on the game, according to the figures, as bettors held their own on a second straight Super Bowl, the first held in Las Vegas. Nevada sportsbooks won approximately $4.4 million on last year’s Super Bowl. They had averaged a $13.2 million win on the previous four Super Bowls.

Sportsbooks reported heavy action from the betting public on the Chiefs, who came from behind to beat the 49ers 25-22 in overtime. Odds of the game going into overtime were around 10-1, a price that attracted typically lopsided action. Caesars Sportsbook said the odds on overtime produced the biggest loss of any of the thousands of prop bets it offered.

Betting on the Super Bowl was up across the nation. Sportsbook FanDuel said it took more than 14 million bets, totaling $307 million, on the Super Bowl from 2.5 million active users. More states are expected to release Super Bowl betting figures this week.

GeoComply, a firm that provides geolocation tracking on most of the legal betting in the U.S., said its data also indicated a sharp increase in Super Bowl wagering. GeoComply said it saw a 22% year-over-year increase in geolocation checks between customers and sportsbooks during Super Bowl weekend. Florida and Kentucky launched betting markets in 2023, pushing the number of states with legal sportsbooks to 39 and helping fuel the increase.