After a season in which U.S. bettors won millions from sportsbooks across the NFL, Nevada’s sportsbooks got theirs back in style from gamblers over Super Bowl weekend.
As slight underdogs, the Philadelphia Eagles pulled out a dominating victory in New Orleans over defending champions the Kansas City Chiefs. Sportsbooks in Nevada won an aggregated $22 million on the game.
That’s the highest Super Bowl revenue for the Silver State’s bookies since 2014’s Super Bowl 48, when they made $19.7 million on the big game. This year, operators held on to 14.6% of wagers, which was just shy of the 16.4% record set in 2014.
Interestingly, the record win came despite a falling overall total handle. That was mainly because last year, Nevada hosted the Super Bowl for the first time, with tens of thousands of fans streaming into town to bolster in-person betting numbers.
Last year’s big game also involved a California team – the San Francisco 49ers – attracting many 49ers fans to the relatively nearby Las Vegas, resulting in the record handle of $185.6 million. Bettors didn’t match that this year, wagering $151.6 million in total in Nevada. But the sportsbooks won’t mind much, as they walked away with more profits.
The Record Win
As much as Nevada sportsbooks won on the night, the Eagles big win matched that style and some. At one point in the third quarter, the Philadelphia team was ahead 35-0, closing down Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes with some tight defense and forcing interceptions or sacks.
In the end, the Eagles ran out the game, 44-22, becoming victors after a slight rally from the Kansas team in the final quarter. Which, as a slight underdog victory with a high points total, was just about the best result the bookies could have hoped for.
There were also some notably big bets won and lost. Although pre-game, most of the big money action appeared to be on the Eagles, the balance of play must have leveled out if the ‘books made a record profit for the day.
“The handle wasn’t as robust as last year. Of course, that can be attributed to the event being here and all the high rollers being here for the game,” MGM Resorts director of trading Lamarr Mitchell said, speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“But going into the game, our best-case scenario was the Eagles win outright and go over. So it was a really, really good win for the house.”
The Bigger Picture
The big win for Nevada’s sports betting operators in just one day comes as a much-needed piece of good news, as bettors actually had a rare winning month against in the ‘books in December.
It also comes as the end of the financial year 2024/2025 approaches, and it has been a middling one for Nevada, with some small growth but falling revenues from the giant casinos of the Las Vegas Strip.
The returning Formula One Grand Prix failed to generate the same boost it did in 2023. But a record Super Bowl weekend win-wise will soften the blow of that somewhat.
Outside of Nevada, betting business geolocation data firm GeoComply estimated a 14% rise in legal U.S. market betting activity on the 2025 Super Bowl, compared to the 2024 event.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
