Fifth of American adults expected to bet on Sunday's Super Bowl

A survey conducted by the American Gaming Association indicates that a fifth of adult Americans will put their money where their mouths are in betting on Super Bowl LVII.

According to the survey results issued on Tuesday morning, bettors are evenly split on the outcome of Sunday’s game with 44 percent each planning to bet on the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs. As of Monday, the Eagles are 1.5-point favorites, according to Caesars Sportsbook.

Sports betting is big business in Nevada, where sports books won $15.4 million on a record $179.8 million in wagers last year when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.

Having West Coast teams tends to increase betting interest, according to figures reported by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

In 2021, when Tampa Bay defeated the Chiefs, 31-9, betting was at its lowest level in six years.

A record 50.4 million American adults are expected to bet on Super Bowl LVII, a 61 percent increase from the record set in 2022, according to the survey.

Bettors plan to wager an estimated $16 billion on this year’s championship game, more than double last year’s estimates.

“With the expansion of legal sports betting, traditional Super Bowl wagers are expected to pass casual wagers for the first time ever:

30 million American adults plan to place a traditional sports wager online, at a retail sportsbook or with a bookie, up 66 percent from 2022,” according to the association. “Twenty-eight million plan to bet casually with friends or as part of a pool or squares contest, up 50 percent from 2022.”

The association said that sports betting legalization is also driving fan interest in the NFL, as 34 percent of NFL fans say that the expansion of legal sports betting has made watching an NFL game more exciting.

“Every year, the Super Bowl serves to highlight the benefits of legal sports betting: bettors are transitioning to the protections of the regulated market, leagues and sports media are seeing increased engagement, and legal operators are driving needed tax revenue to states across the country,” said Association President and CEO Bill Miller.