Super Bowl Betting Statistics
The National Football League (NFL) is an American obsession with an estimated 187 million fans following the sport throughout the season. So it should come as no surprise that its end-of-season showpiece, the Super Bowl, is one of the most watched sporting events not just in the United States but worldwide.
2024 Super Bowl Betting
For Super Bowl LVIII in 2024, the San Francisco 49ers were set as slight favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Betting lines in Las Vegas placed the 49ers as 1.5 to 2-point favorites with odds of approximately -120 on the moneyline, meaning a $120 bet on the 49ers would yield $100 if they won. Meanwhile, the Chiefs were listed as underdogs with a moneyline around +117, where a $100 bet would return $117 in the event of a Kansas City victory.
The over/under for the game was set at 47.5 points, and it remained steady without much fluctuation, reflecting a close and competitive matchup anticipated by oddsmaker
The 2024 Super Bowl made history in terms of viewership
The 2024 Super Bowl (LVIII) showcased a thrilling matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, held on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The game turned into an exciting overtime showdown, ultimately resulting in the Kansas City Chiefs defeating the 49ers, with a final score of 38-35. This marked the Chiefs’ third Super Bowl victory, as they clinched the title in dramatic fashion.
An unprecedented 123.7 million people tuned in across all platforms, breaking the record previously held by the 2015 Super Bowl XLIX (Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots) which had 114.4 million viewers.
The peak viewership reached 129.3 million during the halftime show, headlined by Usher, making it the highest viewership for a Super Bowl halftime show as well. This viewership surge has been attributed in part to high-profile entertainment figures and broad digital reach, including simultaneous broadcasts on CBS, Univision, and youth-focused channels like Nickelodeon
Super Bowl 2023 Viewing Figures
In the U.S. alone, 113.06 million people tuned in for the grand finale of the 2022/23 NFL season, Super Bowl LVII (Chiefs vs Eagles) on Sunday, Feb. 12th 2023 while 56 million people from around the world also watched. Incredibly, this was only the second highest viewership for a Super Bowl.
The most viewed Super Bowl of all-time was Super Bowl XLIX (Seattle Seahawks · New England Patriots) which attracted a TV audience of 114.4 million.
Sports Betting Legalization & the NFL
The NFL is the most wagered on sports league in the United States. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), ahead of the 2022 season as many as 46.6 million people planned to bet on the sport at least once
This represents 18% of the U.S. adult population and that percentage looks set to increase further for the 2023 season.
The rise in NFL betting is thanks in large part to the legalization of sports betting across the United States. Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on single-event sports wagering in 2018, states have been permitted to legislate for sports betting. This saw a rush of bills passed by lawmakers and signed into law by state governors. By the end of 2018, seven states had launched regulated sports betting markets.
At the time of writing, there are 35 states that now offer some form of legal sports betting with Kentucky the latest to launch a regulated sports betting industry.
NFL Betting
According to the American Gaming Association, in 2022 just 13% of NFL bettors said that they would use a bookmaker to place wagers during the pro-football season, a 2% drop from the previous year as NFL fans move towards regulated and licensed sports betting providers.
The 2022/23 NFL season also saw mobile sports betting increase in popularity as 23 million people wagered on an NFL game online throughout the season, an 18% increase on the previous season thanks in large part to newly opened mobile sports-betting markets such as New York.
While precise betting data is available for the Super Bowl (see below), there are no exact figures for the amount wagered on NFL football throughout a season, due to the fact that most states do not offer detailed betting data by individual sports/leagues. There can also be significant differences in betting preferences and activity based on the state a sportsbook is located in.
For example, of the $5.1 billion wagered on sports in New Jersey across FY23, $369.6 million was bet on the NFL. This is approximately 7.2% of all wagers. Meanwhile, in Colorado FY22 saw sportsbooks take in $4.8 billion in wagers and 15.9% of those bets ($768.6 million) were placed on NFL games.
Super Bowl Betting
The Super Bowl is the most wagered on U.S. sporting event. In 2023, Super Bowl LVII attracted wagers from an estimated 50 million adults. Ahead of the February showdown, the AGA projected that wagers on the Super Bowl could top $16 billion, more than twice its projection for the previous year of $7.6 billion. However, it’s worth noting that the AGA’s projections include estimates for illegal wagers.
The actual legal sports betting tally for the 2022 Super Bowl was closer to $950 million with an estimate of $1.1 billion for 2023’s Super Bowl.
The New England Patriots have the most Super Bowl appearances at 11, winning it a record six times.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have also won six Super Bowls but have done so in just eight appearances.
However, the highest winning percentage of teams that have appeared in more than one Super Bowl goes to the Baltimore Ravens and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Both teams have a 100% winning percentage winning the Super Bowl on each of the two occasions that they appeared in the season finale.
Sports betting legalization is also driving fan interest in the #NFL, with more than a third (34%) of NFL fans saying the expansion of legal sports betting has made watching an NFL game more exciting. pic.twitter.com/6nN8K2jFwe
— American Gaming Association (@AmericanGaming) February 7, 2023
The 2023 Super Bowl saw Nevada sportsbooks accept $153.2 million in wagers while New Jersey sportsbooks and apps took in $109.3 million.
Super Bowl Betting
The largest wager ever made on the NFL Super Bowl was made by Jim McIngvale (Mattress Mack) when he bet $5 million on the the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI in February 2022. The Bengals lost by 20-23.
McIngvale also held the previous record when he bet $3.46 million on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at +3.5 to win Super Bowl LV. The Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs by 31-9 and McIngvale won $2.75 million.
Super Bowl Prop Bets
Proposition wagers (known as “props” or “prop-bets” are growing in popularity and usually make up more than half of a sportsbook’s betting handle for the Super Bowl. In 2023, Westgate Las Vegas sportsbook estimated that 70% of its handle was proposition wagers on Super Bowl LVII.
For Super Bowl LVII, Caesars Sports offered a menu of 2,000 proposition wagers for the game.
The largest prop wager placed on the Super Bowl was made ahead of Super Bowl LVII. BetMGM took a $225,000 wager on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to surpass 1½ passing touchdowns during the game. Mahomes made three passing touchdowns to win the bettor $100,000.
The Super Bowl has also seen sportsbooks offer some interesting proposition wagers such as:
- Super Bowl LVII: If the Chiefs win, will Andy Reid be doused in BBQ sauce?
- Super Bowl XLVIII: How many times will Peyton Manning say “Omaha” during the game?
- Super Bowl LII: How many times the statue Rocky Balboa be shown during the broadcast of the game?
Other prop bets that are seen at sportsbooks each and every year include the color of the Gatorade dumped on the winning coach, the length of the National Anthem and what the coin toss will be.
Incidentally, in 57 Super Bowls the team that has won the coin toss has won the game 25 times and lost 32 times.
- Heads has come up 27 times (47.3%)
- Tails has come up 30 times (52.7%)
Heads’ longest streak is 5 times in a row while Tails’ longest streak is 4 times in a row (this happened on three occasions).
The most coin toss wins by a team is 6 for the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers have 5 wins while the Miami Dolphins have 4 wins. The Raiders, Patriots, and Seahawks have all won the coin toss 3 times.
Super Bowl Points Betting
The biggest point spread in the history of the Super Bowl goes way back to 1969 when the New York Jets beat the favored Baltimore Colts by 16-7.
The smallest point spread in the Super Bowl was 1 point and this happened on no less than three occasions;
- Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins (-1) vs Washington Redskins
- Super Bowl XVI: San Francisco 49ers (-1) vs Cincinnati Bengals
- Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks (-1)
Super Bowl XXIV saw the highest margin of victory of 45 points as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos by a score of 55-10.
The lowest margin of victory was just 1 point and that came in Super Bowl XXV when when the New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills 20-19.
Super Bowl XXIX was the highest scoring Super Bowl of all-time when the San Francisco 49ers beat the San Diego Chargers by 49-26 for a total score of 75. The betting total (over/under) line for this game was 53.5.
The highest total betting line for a Super Bowl was 57 for Super Bowl XLIV. The New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts by a score of 31-17 bringing the total to 48.
The lowest total betting line was 33. This was the total set for four Super Bowls: VII, VIII, IX and XXXV.
The Super Bowl final score has been over the total line on 28 occasions while it has been under 28 times. There was no totals betting for the first Super Bowl.
The average margin of victory since the first Super Bowl is 14 points.
The Super Bowl’s average final score is 30 to 16.
Super Bowl Team Betting
Underdogs have won the Super Bowl 27 times while favorites have come out on top 28 times with two games ending with a push.
Underdogs
The Philadelphia Eagles are the most recent true underdog Super Bowl winners. Ahead of the 2017 season the team was priced at +4000 (40/1) to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy. The Eagles beat the New England Patriots by 41-33 in Super Bowl LII on February 4th, 2018.
But that’s nothing compared to the 1999 St. Louis Rams. The Rams had the longest odds of any Super Bowl winner priced at +15000 (150/1) to win Super Bowl XXXIV which they did by beating the Tennessee Titans 23-16 on January 30th 2000.
AFC vs NFC Betting
A team from the AFC Conference has won the Super Bowl on 28 occasions, while NFC teams have won on 29 occasions.
NFL MVP Betting
Betting on the NFL’s MVP (most valuable player) is a popular proposition bet at land-based and online sportsbooks.
