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Members of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrate their Super Bowl win on Sunday.
The Philadelphia Eagles weren’t the only winners of Super Bowl LIX. Betting platforms were, too.
Sportsbooks reported heavy app activity during Sunday’s game, including increased downloads and bets. A BetMGM executive told MarketWatch this was “one of the best single game results in company history” and its biggest betting event ever. (Its parent company, MGM Grand (MGM), is part-owned by Investopedia’s parent.)
The year is off to a promising start for online sports betting, with the comparable-state “handle,” or the amount of money wagered on bets, up more than 20% in January, substantially more than in December, based on state data analyzed by Bank of America. Over 16 million bets were placed on Flutter-owned (FLUT) FanDuel, a nearly 20% increase from last year’s game.
Fans across several sportsbooks widely bet on a high-scoring game, choosing the “over” point-total wager, which was set around 48.5—meaning they bet the total points scored would be above that level—which, at 40-22, it was. But Bank of America analysts said they believe the books benefited from the Eagles victory, as well as both teams’ holding key players like the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley out of the end zone.
At DraftKings’ (DKNG) Sportsbook, 52% of wagers were on Kansas City to cover, or to win by more points than its oddsmakers expected, according to The Athletic.
Barkley was a popular pick for the anytime touchdown “prop” bet. (Props are wagers that a specific in-game outcome will occur.) He finished the game with 57 yards; picking him to rush for over 110.5 yards was the most-bet prop at BetMGM, according toThe Athletic. (Other bets that proved unsuccessful were whether or not Barkley and Kansas City’s Travis Kelce would score touchdowns and if Kelce would propose to Taylor Swift.)
According to BetMGM, the Eagles are the early favorite to win Super Bowl 60 as of Friday.
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