CasinoCityTimes.com

Home
Gaming Strategy
Featured Stories
News
Newsletter
Legal News Financial News Casino Opening and Remodeling News Gaming Industry Executives Author Home Author Archives Search Articles Subscribe
Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter!
Recent Articles
author's picture
 

Super Bowl XL Produces Record Amount of Wagers

16 February 2006

It appears that Super Bowl Sunday has once again lived up to its reputation as the largest betting day in the world as both the Las Vegas sportsbooks and the offshore sportsbooks experienced new all-time high wagering figures in 2006.

Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC), a company that provides statistics for all segments of the gambling industry by country, continent and legal jurisdiction, estimates that the total amount of handle taken by interactive sportsbooks amounted to US$425 million. The figure represents a 57 percent increase over GBGC's estimate for total interactive handle on the 2005 Super Bowl, which they say reached $270 million.

"Some of the interactive sportsbooks are reporting handles ahead by as much as 75 percent after a strong marketing push," stated GBGC's Simon Holliday. "Many of the interactive firms have utilized the event as a revenue neutral marketing exercise."

It is worth noting that GBGC's estimate of $270 million in interactive handle for the 2005 Super Bowl is somewhat significantly below industry analyst Christiansen Capital Advisers' estimate of $400 million for last year's game.

Alex Czajkowski, marketing director for Sportingbet's American region, verified that he witnessed the predicted surge on gameday. "Super Bowl Sunday is usually the highest single day in terms of individual bettors that you see, and this was no exception," he said. "Our numbers were up from the previous year pretty much in line with what the industry expected it to grow."

He added, "On the morning of the Super Bowl we were processing 15 bets per second and one credit card per second. The numbers were astounding."

Another offshore bookmaker, BetonSports.com, reported a record amount of betting handle on the game in a trading statement to the London Stock Exchange last week. The company's director of communications, Kevin Smith, stated, "We had a record amount of handle on the game and a record amount of new-user signups during Super Bowl weekend." BetonSports' trading statement also noted that its margin on the game was neutral despite the large amount of betting action it saw, due to the favored Pittsburgh Steelers winning the contest.

Blake Wetherspoon, marketing manager for VIPsports.com, explained that although his company would have liked to have seen a better performance out the Seattle Seahawks, the big win by the Steelers was at least successful in breaking up all of the Seattle teasers.

"Overall the Super Bowl was a great success for VIP as we saw 50 percent growth year-on-year across the board," said Wetherspoon. "Total amount wagered, number of bets and number of new depositing customers were all up over 50 percent vs. 2004."

Wetherspoon added, "Having some money riding on the big game adds to the excitement for gamblers everywhere, and VIP experienced a 75% increase in deposits vs. 2004. Casino players that don't typically bet sports even come out for a bet on Super Bowl, so it really is the North American sports betting event of the year."

Nevada sportsbooks also received record amount of wagering on the game. The Nevada State Gaming Control Board reports that Nevada's 176 licensed sportsbooks received a record $94.5 million worth of wagers, an improvement over last year's record of $90.8 million.

Nevada sportsbooks came away with a 9.3 percent win percentage, which yielded $8.8 million in profit. Last year the books won $15.4 million for a 17 percent win percentage when the favored New England Patriots defeated the Philadelphia Eagles but failed to cover the point spread.

Although Super Bowl Sunday may represent the largest betting day of the year for interactive sportsbooks, it doesn't seem likely that the game represents the largest single betting event for the sportsbooks. March's NCAA basketball tournament seems certain to produce comparable, if not better, figures, and the upcoming 2006 World Cup of soccer seems destined to become the largest betting event in history, with a majority of the action expected to be taken by European sportsbooks.

Super Bowl XL Produces Record Amount of Wagers is republished from iGamingNews.com.
Bradley Vallerius

Bradley P. Vallerius, JD manages For the Bettor Good, a comprehensive resource for information related to Internet gaming policy in the U.S. federal and state governments. For the Bettor Good provides official government documents, jurisdiction updates, policy analysis, and many other helpful research materials.

Bradley has been researching and writing about the business and law of internet gaming since 2003. His work has covered all aspects of the industry, including technology, finance, advertising, taxation, poker, betting exchanges, and laws and regulations around the world.

Bradley Vallerius Websites:

www.FortheBettorGood.com
Bradley Vallerius
Bradley P. Vallerius, JD manages For the Bettor Good, a comprehensive resource for information related to Internet gaming policy in the U.S. federal and state governments. For the Bettor Good provides official government documents, jurisdiction updates, policy analysis, and many other helpful research materials.

Bradley has been researching and writing about the business and law of internet gaming since 2003. His work has covered all aspects of the industry, including technology, finance, advertising, taxation, poker, betting exchanges, and laws and regulations around the world.

Bradley Vallerius Websites:

www.FortheBettorGood.com