‘When the favorite wins, so does the house’ is a betting truism, however, that did not work for New Jersey on Sunday. Nevada’s sportsbooks won, but New Jersey’s sportsbooks lost.
The pre-match favorites New England Patriots beat underdogs Los Angeles Rams 13-3 in Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII.
And, has been the case in New England’s previous five Super Bowl wins, it saw Nevada’s sports bookmakers came out on top.
The Stae’s punters placed bets worth a total of $145.9 million, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Sadly for them, it was the Nevada punters who were the losers. They finished in the red to the tune of $10.8 million.
This was not the case, however, in New Jersey were punters were able to wager on the Super Bowl for the first time ever.
NJ took in $34.9 million in wagers on Super Bowl LIII
NJ’s nine sportsbooks took in a total of $34.9 million but lost $4.6 million to the punters, according to the state’s Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Why this discrepancy between the two states?
Danny Sheridan, a gaming industry analyst, and odds-maker believes “regional bias” may have had something to do with it.
Patriotic East Coast gamblers may have overwhelmingly put their dollars on the New England team winning, perhaps to a far greater degree than is normal.
Nevada sports punters, on the other hand, would likely have staked more on the Rams from neighboring California and the betting ratio would not have been as lopsided.
But perhaps the major factor that made one state’s sportsbook winners and the other losers, Sheridan told NBC News, had much more to do with numbers. Nevada took in four times as much handle as New Jersey.
Handle size usually correlates to a bookies profits
“A larger handle is a direct correlation to a bookie’s profits. I mean, you can play blackjack for 30 minutes and maybe you’ll win. But if you play for four hours,” you’re always going to get beat.
Sunday’s Super Bowl for the first time ever offered would-be betters in states other than Nevada the legal right to place bets on the Super Bowl.
This thanks to the Supreme Court which, in May last year, declared the PASPA law forbidding sports betting outside Nevada to be unconstitutional.
Led by New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Mexico, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have since all legalized sports betting.
Eric Weiss of New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement told NBC News, “This is our first experience (of Super Bowl betting) “We’ll be interested to see what the other jurisdictions come back with.”
NJ’s handle should top other states new to betting
Because of its online betting facilities and because it has been operating longer than the seven other states new to sports betting, New Jersey is certain to have attracted the largest handle.
Mississippi is a good example. It has 23 state-regulated Casinos to NJ’s 10 but none with an online betting option. Its Super Bowl wagers amounted to$4.7 million which is a far cry from New Jersey’s 34.9 million.
In Delaware, gamblers wagered just over $2.2 million on Super Sunday’s big game and West Virginia sportsbooks $2.8 million.
State gaming regulators and operators at Pennsylvania’s five sportsbooks and Rhode Island’s lone location declined to disclose their Super Bowl handle.