If the Super Bowl is the biggest betting day of the year, then the 2024 edition of the game might be the biggest ever.
Not only is sports betting more widespread than for any Super Bowl in history — in states such as Florida and Kentucky, it is their first NFL championship game with legal event wagering — but the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will square off next Sunday in Las Vegas of all places.
People have always flocked to Vegas to soak up the scene and get down a bet on the Big Game. This year will be no exception, and the city’s sportsbooks could see even more action with the game played at Allegiant Stadium and with thousands of attendees circulating through the Strip and beyond beforehand.
Whether or not the throngs of bettors will win remains to be seen. Still, history tells us that no matter which team wins on the field on Super Bowl Sunday, Las Vegas bookmakers will likely emerge victorious, too.
We know this because the Nevada Gaming Control Board tracks how the Silver State’s sportsbooks fare when it comes to the Big Game, and the regulator provided a copy of that wagering history to Covers.
So, with a little more than a week to go before Super Bowl LVIII, let’s take a trip down memory lane. It’s time to recall some of the biggest wins and losses that Nevada sportsbooks have taken on the NFL championship game over the past 30 years — and, therefore, the biggest wins and losses for bettors as well.
(Note: all of the figures below are from the NGCB)
Taking a stroll down memory lane looking at these historical Super Bowl wagering figures for Nevada (courtesy of the gaming control board).
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) February 2, 2024
The Natrone Means disrespect in 1995 is jarring but was, ultimately, accurate, as the 49ers covered the 18.5-point spread. pic.twitter.com/j9w6ageV7v
The Biggest Super Bowl Win for Vegas
The biggest Super Bowl by revenue for Nevada sportsbooks from 1991 to 2023 came in 2014 when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos by a score of 43-8.
Denver, led by the legendary Peyton Manning, were favorites of two-and-a-half points going into the game. Yet things quickly went awry for the Broncos, starting with the safety they suffered on the first play from scrimmage. It was more or less all Seattle from there, as the Seahawks put up 36 points before Manning finally tossed a touchdown to Demaryius Thomas to end the third quarter.
Nevada sportsbooks won almost $19.7 million off $119.4 million in wagering on Super Bowl XLVIII, good for a hold of nearly 16.5%.
However, while revenue in 2014 was a record for the Super Bowl, the hold, interestingly enough, was not. In fact, the Super Bowl with the highest win rate for Nevada sportsbooks (and therefore the highest loss rate for bettors) was the New England Patriots' 24-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005. The $15.4 million in revenue won by the books on the game (in which the Pats were favored by a touchdown) was on almost $90.8 million in handle, good for a 17% hold.
The Biggest Super Bowl Loss for Vegas
Yes, Nevada sportsbooks as a whole have lost money on the Super Bowl. It happens! The nature of sports betting is that, sometimes, the bettor should win. Otherwise, why wager at all?
Anyway, the biggest "defeat" for Nevada bookmakers came in 2008, when the New York Giants defeated the 12-point-favored New England Patriots outright by a score of 17-14. The final tally went well under the game’s 55-point total as well.
Super Bowl XLII is famous for the so-called “Helmet Catch” by Giants receiver David Tyree late in the fourth quarter. A Plaxico Burress TD reception later, and New York had pulled off one of the biggest upsets of all time.
The outcome led to an approximately $2.6 million loss for Nevada sportsbooks on a handle of nearly $92.1 million, a negative 2.8% hold.
The only other overall loss for Nevada's bookmakers over the past 30 years came in 1995 when the San Francisco 49ers beat the then-San Diego Chargers by a score of 49-26.
The 49ers were massive favorites coming into the game of eighteen-and-a-half points — the biggest Super Bowl point spread ever — and never trailed for a second of the game en route to a resounding win for Steve Young, Jerry Rice, and Co. As a result, Nevada sportsbooks lost just short of $400,000 on the game on a handle of $69.6 million, or a win rate of negative 0.57%.
The Most-Bet Super Bowl for Vegas
The Super Bowl that attracted the highest betting volume in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada was the 2022 game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals. The 23-20 win for the Rams generated a handle of $179.8 million. That was more than $20 million above the second-most-wagered-on Super Bowl in Nevada, the 2018 Philadelphia-New England matchup that attracted $158.6 million in action in the state.
Other Nevada Super Bowl betting bric-a-brac
- There has been just one push in the last three decades. The then-St. Louis Rams' 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in 2000 came with the former as seven-point favorites. Nevada sportsbooks still won more than $4.2 million on the game.
- The highest total for a Super Bowl game at Nevada sportsbooks was in 2017, for the New England-Atlanta dustup. The Patriots' come-from-behind 34-28 win against the Falcons only went Over the game's 59-point total after going to overtime.
- The lowest Super Bowl total offered by Nevada sportsbooks was for the 2001 Ravens-Giants blowout. The game ultimately went Over its 33-point total as Baltimore triumphed by a score of 34-7 against New York.
