AGA Predicts Record 68 Million Americans Will Bet on Super Bowl LVIII 

The Super Bowl isn’t called the “Big Game” for nothing.

According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), an estimated 68 million Americans, just about one-fourth of the national adult population, plan to bet on Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s well above the record of more than 50 million estimated before the last Super Bowl.

The AGA released its findings Tuesday. It also said it anticipates a cumulative $23.1 billion in wagers, a 44.4% increase on the $16 billion it predicted last year.

The AGA’s results focused on customers betting at all locations, including legal online sportsbooks, offshore books, and illegal bookmakers.

$1.5 billion of the handle is expected to flow through legal sports betting outfits. That’s in line with estimates made by gaming research company Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, which anticipated $1.25 billion in wagers at legal sportsbooks. 

35% more people are expected to participate in Super Bowl betting in 2024 compared to 2023. That was helped by Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont all launching sports betting since the NFL’s last championship event.

38 states and Washington D.C. now have legal sports betting markets, including behemoths such as Florida and New York. The rampant flow of money and swelling support for the pastime leaves many industry exports with the impression that the Super Bowl will continue to break betting records every year for at least a decade. 

“There’s a good chance that every Super Bowl for the next ten or so years will be the most-bet Super Bowl thanks to the underlying growth of regulated sports betting in the U.S.,” said gambling analyst Chris Grove of Eilers & Krejcik Gaming.

While 76% of states boast legal gambling markets, both California and Missouri, the home states of the Super Bowl participants, do not.

California had a chance to adopt sports betting legislation during the last general election with Propositions 26 and 27, which were heavily supported by the gaming industry, but both fell short at the ballot.

The Missouri House presented several sports betting bills to the Senate in recent years, but none garnered enough support. A coalition of local professional sports teams finally announced in mid-January it filed a petition to get sports betting on the statewide ballot, but it must first receive 5% of signatures from legal voters in six of eight districts.

The build-up to Super Bowl LVIII has been unlike that of years past. 

One of the leading headlines is the relationship between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and musical megastar Taylor Swift. A Front Office Sports report earlier this year indicated the Chiefs and the NFL received an added $331.5 million in brand value because of Swift’s presence at games and ties to Kelce.

Swift’s influence also seemingly played a part in three beauty companies purchasing multi-million-dollar ad spots during the Big Game. Of the three, two had never purchased a Super Bowl ad before, and one had not appeared in 18 years.

Cait DeBaun, a vice president of the American Gaming Association, said Swift, combined with the enticing matchup between the 49ers and the Chiefs (who met four years ago in Super Bowl LIV), the growth of sports betting, and the Las Vegas venue are all partially responsible for the record estimates ahead of kick-off.

Most sportsbooks have the 49ers as two-point favorites over the Chiefs (FanDuel has the 49ers -2.5) at the time of writing. Mahomes is 11-1-1 against the spread (10-3 straight-up) as an underdog in his playoff career and helped the Chiefs beat the Niners four years ago, 31-20.

Underdogs are 9-5 in the Super Bowl since 2010. The Chiefs will look to add to that as they assume the role of David for the third straight game, while the Niners are favored for a joint NFL-record 20th time this season.