Last year, no seven-figure wagers were reported regarding Super Bowl LIX. This year, there are already two of them.
Via David Purdum of ESPN.com, wagers of $2 million and $1.2 million have been placed on the Patriots, who are 4.5-point underdogs in the upcoming game against the Seahawks.
Despite the big bets, some analysts believe the Super Bowl handle will drop this year, given the absence of superstar players, the lack of the Taylor Swift angle, and the rise of prediction markets, which are siphoning cash away from sportsbooks.
The American Gaming Association, in contrast, predicts a 27-percent jump over last year. Which means that someone is going to be wrong, perhaps dramatically.
The AGA expects $1.76 billion to be wagered legally through sportsbooks. Sports betting currently is permitted in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Which means that, in more than 20 percent of the states, there’s still only one way to bet — know a guy, call the guy, and hope you can pay the guy before the guy’s guys show up unexpectedly as you’re pushing a cart of groceries to your SUV.
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