Millions of viewers tuned into the 2023 Super Bowl in Glendale Sunday night to watch the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles, 38-35, in a mostly-thrilling game. With those millions of viewers came millions of sports bets through the weekend.
According to GeoComply, a company that verifies geographical locations for where bets are coming from, 100 million wagers took place over the weekend. Anna Sainsbury, GeoComply co-founder and CEO, said the ability for fans to live bet at the game proved popular:
“Super Bowl LVII was a record-breaking event. GeoComply data reveals that Americans’ interest in legally betting on the Super Bowl has never been higher. It also showed that many fans at State Farm Stadium embraced their newfound ability to bet while watching the game in person.”
In and around State Farm Stadium alone, where the game took place, more than 100,000 transactions took place on Sunday. Around 8,000 new accounts were created in the Glendale area to partake in Arizona sports betting. This was the first Super Bowl to take place in a state where sports betting is legal.
Sportsbooks that offered Super Bowl betting options overall saw a 25% increase from last year’s game. FanDuel reported, at its peak, it was accepting 50,000 bets every second, with around 2 million customers using the platform throughout the game.
How did Arizona Super Bowl bettors do?
The Eagles were the favorites for most of the country heading into Sunday’s game. Caesars Sportsbook reported that of the 19 territories it operates in, 17 chose the Eagles (-1.5) to cover the spread. One of the two territories where more people bet the spread on the Chiefs was Arizona, which collectively favored the Chiefs. For the moneyline, Arizona joined 11 other territories in favoring the Eagles.
According to DraftKings, Arizona joined all other territories, aside from Kansas, on a majority of bettors favoring the Eagles to cover the spread.
Hours before kickoff, FanDuel posted to their Twitter account that an Arizona bettor placed a $460,000 wager on Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to score a touchdown at any point in the game (-115). Kelce would end up scoring a touchdown off an 18-yard pass. This made him the highest-scoring tight end in NFL postseason history, and made that lucky Arizona bettor $400,000 richer.
On Sunday, a bettor at the BetMGM sportsbook near State Farm Stadium put down $547,000 on over 49.5 points (-125) to be scored in the game; the largest bet on the game made at the time. The Chiefs and Eagles combined for 73, allowing the bettor to win $437,600. The same bettor put down $52,000 on the coin toss to be heads – but it landed on tails.
It’s not too early to bet on next year’s Super Bowl
Even though the NFL’s season ended after the Chiefs won, betting on the league’s next Super Bowl has just begun. Some sportsbooks have already released odds on who is likely to succeed Kansas City as the 2024 Super Bowl champions.
According to DraftKings, the Chiefs have the best odds for coming out of the AFC and repeating as champions in Super Bowl LVIII at +600. For the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers have the best odds at +800. The Eagles come in second out of the NFC at +900.
As far as the Arizona Cardinals are concerned, Vegas has little faith in the team’s Super Bowl potential. The Cardinals currently sit at +20000 odds; far below the next-lowest NFC team, the Chicago Bears (+8000). They share the worst odds with the AFC’s Houston Texans.
The Cardinals face a lot of uncertainty going into the 2023 NFL season. A replacement for fired former head coach Kliff Kingsbury has yet to be named. In addition, franchise quarterback Kyler Murray will likely miss a portion of the season recovering from a torn ACL, and star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been the subject of trades since before Arizona’s season ended.
Super Bowl LVIII will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, on Feb. 11, 2024.
