The Demise of the Vegas Sportsbook Was Greatly Exaggerated

There was all sorts of rumors in the news and throughout the twittersphere that sportsbooks in Las Vegas lost their, collective, nards on the Super Bowl on Sunday between the Packers and Steelers, but the truth wasn’t really that bad.

Sports books in Nevada hung on to win just over $724,000 from Super Bowl bets despite heavy gambling on the Green Bay Packers and lots of scoring.

The total handle on the game was much less than expected or hoped for (as I detailed on Vegas Chatter last week).

The Nevada Gaming Control Board said Tuesday that $87.5 million were wagered on the NFL’s championship game in 183 sports books across the state.

By comparison to last year the profit was way down, but the amount bet wasn’t too much of an improvement.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board said Tuesday that $87.5 million were wagered on the NFL’s championship game in 183 sports books across the state.

All in all, not a good day for the books but not one that will drive casinos out of business, especially as the sportsbook only accounts for about 5% of a casino’s revenue. The Super Bowl is like Christmas for the sportsbooks, so don’t look for a good year from the sportsbooks, in general and expect cutbacks if you see the same thing during March Madness.