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Early Super Bowl betting data that has started to come in confirms that the game was a record-setting event for bookmakers in the U.S. Betting handle is estimated to have increased 27% year-over-year in the key states of Nevada, New Jersey and New York.
Across the states that have reported data, Flutter Entertainment’s (NYSE:FLUT) FanDuel saw the biggest jump in betting handle from a year ago with a 43% increase to a record $307M. 14M bets were spread across 2.5M active users for FanDuel, according to Jefferies. MGM Resorts International (MGM) and Entain’s (OTCPK:GMVHF) BetMGM reported a strong +30% year-over-year increase in handle.
Gross gaming revenue margins or hold rates were low for the game due to many sportsbooks having exposure to the Kansas City Chiefs winning in a game with more than 46.5 points scored. Operator-specific data from the state of New York revealed that several operators, including BetMGM and Caesars Entertainment (CZR), recorded negative GGR margins for Super Bowl week. FanDuel (FLUT) and DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) saw hold rates of 4% in New York. In Nevada, sportsbooks saw a record 185.6M wagered across the 182 sportsbooks in the state vs. $153.2M a year ago. The GGR win rate in the state was 3.7%, which was a lower hold rate than in five of the last six years.
Overall, GGR margins are expected to be below 6% across the industry for the Super Bowl. For January, overall GGR margins are estimated to be strongest for FanDuel at 13.8% across all betting events, followed by DraftKings with 11.4% and BetMGM with 9.8%. Of note, Penn Entertainment’s (PENN) ESPN Bet has seen its market share range for January from 2% to 10% for the states that have reported data.
The Super Bowl is still considered a major success for the sportsbooks due to a rush of new customers added to the mix. “The single biggest opportunity for operators around the Super Bowl relates to customer acquisition and engagement,” reminded analyst James Wheatcroft. Many of the new customers were added organically through a surge of interest in the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift factor, instead of the typical high-cost customer acquisition marketing and promotional activity.
Bettors were also very engaged during this year’s game. Location compliance check firm GeoComply reported 1.8B new user registrations ahead of the Super Bowl and said it recorded 14.75K betting transactions per second at the betting peak, almost double the level seen during last year’s Super Bowl.
Shares of DraftKings (DKNG) are up 33% over the last six, while the U.S.-listed shares of Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) are up more than 20% since they started trading in late January.
