Record 20% of Americans Expected to Bet on Super Bowl

Legalized sports betting means wagers on this year’s big game could be bigger than ever.

“With the expansion of legal sports betting, traditional Super Bowl wagers are expected to pass casual wagers for the first time ever,” the American Gaming Association (AGA) said in a Tuesday (Feb. 7) news release.

The industry group says a record 50 million Americans — 20% of the country’s adult population — will bet on the Eagles/Bengals game, up 61% from last year, according to an AGA survey. Bettors are expected to wager $16 billion, more than double 2022’s estimates.

The AGA says 30 million Americans plan to place a bet online, at a retail sportsbook or with a bookie, a 66% increase from 2022. Meanwhile, 28 million will place a bet casually with friends or as part of a pool/squares contest, a 50% increase from last year.

“Sports betting legalization is also driving fan interest in the NFL, as more than a third (34%) of NFL fans say that the expansion of legal sports betting has made watching an NFL game more exciting,” the AGA said.

As PYMNTS noted last month, the legalization of online sportsbooks in 26 states — and Washington, D.C. — has created “an entirely new scale and scope for wagering on the big game,” while also complicating the instantaneous nature of gambling winnings.

“I personally cannot imagine winning a bunch of money and then being told [by the site], ‘OK, we’ll send you a check in a week.’ This needs to be a digital-first experience,” Ingo Money CEO Drew Edwards told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster recently.

His company was tapped by Caesars Digital to help power its sportsbook app, with Caesars Digital VP of Payments and Fraud Trent Striplin telling PYMNTS the near-real-time payouts Ingo designed for the sportsbook clear an “array of regulatory, financial and accounting controls and fraud reviews,” in about an hour.

“The Super Bowl is by name one of the mega events as it relates to advertisers, and as it relates to this type of activity and behavior,” Edwards said.

“None of that happens without money in and money out or money in between. Instant payments are just natural in that process.”

Meanwhile, Alex Gonthier, CEO of Trustly, told Webster that wagerers on this year’s Super Bowl will be able to get their winnings a lot faster, in an industry first: allowing for real-time payments through the RTP network to bettors’ bank accounts.

His company announced Tuesday (Feb. 7) that it has teamed up with online gaming operator PointsBet, to offer the latter’s players real-time payouts in the United States.

As Gonthier put it, “in the gaming industry — and in lots of other industries — when gamers have won something, they want their money as quickly as possible.”

Consumers also want that money in their bank accounts, which Gontheir termed the “center” of individuals’ financial universes. He noted Trustly’s partnership with PointsBet is a first for the online gaming industry — one where pay-in and deposits happen in real time, benefitting the bettors and the platforms alike.