How much do you want to bet that this year’s Super Bowl is going to see a record amount of gambling?
This weekend’s Super Bowl match-up between the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals will see a lot celebrities in expensive commercials as well as record levels of sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association's research.
Altogether, 45 million more Americans can legally bet on this year’s game in their home state, compared to 2021.
How Much Will People Be Betting?
According to the AGA’s research, 31.4 million American adults plan to bet a combined $7.61 billion.
That’s 18% of the entire audience of Super Bowl viewers, which, barring something completely unheard of, will be the biggest television event of the year, with ratings averaging above 100 million viewers.
The amount of viewers who plan to place a bet is predicted to increase 35% from 2021.
So What’s Behind The Betting Boom?
There’s two likely reasons for the increase in betting. One is sociological, and the other is a combination of technology and changing laws.
As writers like Matthew Yglesias have observed, the pandemic and the stop-start economic reopening (and those related psychological burdens) seems to have created a marked increase in risky or anti-social behavior, such as increased alcohol and substance use, aggressive driving or public altercations.
One can argue whether it’s fair to categorize gambling with these activities, but it is nonetheless an inherently risky activity which people can become addicted to.
Psychiatric experts who study gambling have argued that it can sometimes correlate with an ongoing sense that pandemic-related stress and unraveling of social fabric is leading to all sorts of people acting out with ill-advised coping mechanisms.
Betting For the First Time Might Just Be for Fun
But there’s also plenty of people who are far more casual betters who are placing new bets because it’s never been easier to do so, and it also might be the first time they’ve legally been allowed to wager.
In May 2018, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States, effectively dismantling the federal ban on sports betting.
This led to state governments across the country slowly allowing sports betting, as sports betting is currently legal in 30 states and D.C., and the Washington Post reports that number will only increase.
“Florida continues to iron out legal wrinkles, efforts by lawmakers in Georgia, North Carolina and Massachusetts are expected to heat up," the paper reports. "And the matter could finally go before California voters by the end of the year.”
How Does All This New Gambling Actually Work?
At first, a number of states such as New York were allowing in-person gambling at casinos, but not via mobile phone applications such as DraftKings or FanDuel.
But in 2021, online gambling was legalized in the state, and DraftKings launched in the Big Apple early this year.
With 45 million more Americans legally able to wager on this year’s game than could in 2021, the stakes for Sunday's draw are high.
As a result, the American Gaming Association thinks all bets are off for how big it will get this weekend, but it has some predictions:
- 18.2 million American adults will place traditional sports wagers online, at a retail sportsbook or with a bookie, up 78 percent from 2021.
- 18.5 million plan to bet casually with friends or as part of a pool or squares contest, up 23 percent from 2021.
- 12.9 million people plan to place a bet online this year, up 70 percent from 2021.
- 4.7 million people plan to place a bet in person at a sportsbook, up 231 percent from 2021.
So What’s The Safe Bet?
If you like to gamble but still like a safe bet, the major betting establishments favor the Bengals by a factor of 4. Also, it seems that more Rams fans than Bengals fans plan to bet on the game, the site reports.
