If you fell asleep or changed the channel during Super Bowl LIII, you weren’t the only one. Not only did Nevada see its first year-over-year betting revenue decline on the big game, but the TV ratings fell to a 10-year low.
The New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history. It wasn’t until the 4th quarter before the first touchdown was scored.
New England tacked on an insurance field goal late to seal the deal and wrap up their sixth title since defeating the then-St. Louis Rams in 2002. Perhaps the result of Patriots fatigue, TV ratings were down. According to the Sports Business Journal, CBS received a 44.9 rating, down 5.3 percent compared to last year.
Still, the network raked in $382 million in ad revenue during the game, third most ever for the NFL’s championship game. But Nevada sportsbooks had a less than stellar day.
Super Bowl Betting Down
Watching the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the ninth time in 17 years may have turned some football fans away. Nevada’s 200 sportsbooks took in $145.94 million in bets on the big game. That’s down nearly $13 million compared to last year.
Legalized sports betting in a few other states may have also impacted the revenue decline. New Jersey took in $34.9 in wagers on Sunday. It was a good day for the sportsbooks in the Garden State in terms of revenue. But gambling operators took a $4.6 million loss for the game.
Nevada’s sportsbooks haven’t yet released profits or losses from Sunday’s big game. But Jay Kornegay, vice president of race and sports book operations at Westgate told Gaming Today that, “it was a solid day.”
“It wasn’t a bad day or a great day,” he said. “It was right in the middle.”
Despite the US Supreme Court overturning a federal ban on sports betting in 2018, paving way for each state to determine legality, Nevada remains the top sports betting destination in the world. The Silver State accounted for 78.6 percent of the $185.5 million legally wagered on the Super Bowl nationwide.
Improbable Prop Bet Comes Through
The Rams averaged 32.9 points per game during the 2018 NFL regular season, second best in the league behind Kansas City (35.3). But on Sunday, that high-octane offense was held to just three points, and that is good news for one lucky gambler.
South Point, a casino just south of the Las Vegas Strip, took a $250 bet from an unknown gambler on the Rams to score exactly three points. The payout for the wager was $100,000 at 400-1 odds. Not a bad score but still only about half the return on investment you’d get for winning the WSOP Main Event.
