More regulated sports betting states in 2024 compared to last year drove a predictable rise in Super Bowl activity over the weekend.
Technology company GeoComply reported a 22.3% year-over-year increase in geolocation checks. Data was analyzed in 28 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“The continued transition to the legal market set the stage for a historic first Super Bowl in Las Vegas, and the record-breaking results we saw did not disappoint,” GeoComply CEO and co-founder Anna Sainsbury said. “We are proud to help foster the growth of a regulated industry that puts accountability, security and player protection at the forefront.”
Total active accounts across regulated U.S. markets rose 15% year-over-year to 8.5 million for Super Bowl LVIII, which was won by the Kansas City Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime.
More than 1.7 million new users created legal sports betting accounts during the two-week leadup to the Super Bowl, bringing the total of new users since the start of the 2023 NFL season to 13.7 million.
GeoComply also reported a traffic spike minutes before the Big Game’s kickoff as 14.75 thousand transactions per second, the most ever tracked and nearly twice as many as last year’s Super Bowl, were recorded.
Market grows
GeoComply uses 800 data points to confirm users are in legal sports betting states when attempting to place bets.
The anti-fraud company added new regulated markets in Massachusetts, Kentucky, Maine, Vermont, and Puerto Rico since last year's Big Game. Florida was not included in the weekend's results.
“Every year the legal market grows is good news for consumers and states and bad news for illegal offshore sportsbooks that become marginalized,” Sainsbury said.
Record weekend
GeoComply works with several online sportsbooks in the U.S., including FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.
GeoComply added that its data “does not purport to be definitive or represent the entire U.S. market but is intended to provide general insights into relevant market dynamics.”
But its data isn’t surprising. The American Gaming Association projected a record 68 million Americans would be wagering on this year’s Super Bowl.
FanDuel announced Monday that it accepted 14 million bets on the Big Game and a record handle of $307 million.
Activity in K.C.
With the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, Kansas City recorded unusual data for GeoComply. Sports betting is legal on the side of the city located in Kansas. It's not legal and on the other side, which is located in Missouri.
GeoComply released a real-time pin-drop map to show how much activity it was blocking within a close proximity to a legal market.
