Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas Metropolis Chiefs could not have the identical pop as years previous, nevertheless it hasn’t diminished the joy amongst sports activities betters forward of the Massive Recreation.
In truth, the American Gaming Association (AGA) is anticipating a report 50.4 million American adults plan to wager $16 billion on Super Bowl LVII. That’s an increase of 61% over final 12 months, based on the data despatched out this week.
That wasn’t a lot of a shock for AGA senior Vice President Casey Clarke.
“The Super Bowl is always one of if not the biggest bet upon sporting events of the year, so it’s not surprising to see that there’s a lot of planned activity around that planned betting action on the Super Bowl,” Clarke mentioned in a telephone interview with amNewYork. That’s type of one thing we count on yearly, however what we’re seeing is the exceptional development of the authorized market. And vital migration of Individuals who wish to wager on sports activities, shifting away from the unlawful market that’s been you realize, type of working out in the open for a very long time to the protections of the authorized market, which is basically encouraging.”
Legalized sports activities betting has grown in leaps in bounds over the previous couple of years as an increasing number of states have allowed it. New York legalized cell sports activities final 12 months and the state has seen report numbers in the 12 months that it has been allowed in the Empire State.
Throughout the US, 33 states and Washington D.C. permit authorized sports activities betting.
It has additionally been a boon for the main sports activities leagues, together with the NFL. Sports activities betting legalization has pushed fan curiosity in the NFL, as greater than a 3rd (34%) of NFL followers say that the growth of authorized sports activities betting has made watching an NFL sport extra thrilling.
“We always knew that sports betting and any other way to engage with content was going to elevate the level of fan engagement with that content,” Clarke mentioned. “So that’s true for the Super Bowl, but it’s also true as you mentioned for 17 Sundays throughout the year and then, you know, extract that or do expand that to NBA games and baseball games and NASCAR races and golf tournaments. And you know, there’s any number of really strong opportunities to give fans kind of a way to engage more significantly in the content and that’s I think the evolution.”
Sports activities betting has seen a massive shift in the notion of it because it has moved away from the unlawful kinds and into the authorized realm. Seven in 10 adults who plan to wager on the Super Bowl this 12 months positioned better significance on wagering by way of authorized means, based on data from the AGA.
“If you look at how sophisticated some of these online offshore operators have become, it’s easy for American consumers to get tricked into believing they’re regulated and licensed,” Clarke mentioned. “It’s critically important that we bring those kinds of protections to people who want to bet on sports. It’s critically important that we migrate them into the protections of the legal market. And our research suggests that the vast majority of people believe they should only be doing it legally.”