Not only was last Sunday's Super Bowl LVIII the most watched National Football League championship game ever, it set a betting record.
In case you were one of the apparently very few who missed it, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime. The comeback was similar to the less dramatic result back in 2020, when the two teams faced off in Super Bowl 54. That year, MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes and not-yet-Taylor-Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce raised their first Lombardi Trophy.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board tallied $185.6 million in bets across 182 sportsbooks in the 2024 rematch. That's the most bet on a Super Bowl in any state's history, according to Silver State gambling officials.
This year's NFL big game bets were up 23 percent from 2023, and beat the previous record set in 2022 of $179.8 million, according to the control board's data.
Growing betting revenue nationwide: While Nevada obviously also raked in a lot of non-wagering revenue from all the visitors to host Las Vegas and other cities in the state, it is not alone in enjoying the wagering benefits.
Legalized state-authorized sports betting, which the U.S. Supreme Court OK'ed in 2018, is a growing business in many U.S. states. The revenue it generates funds various state programs, from infrastructure construction and maintenance, public education, law enforcement, and even gambling addiction programs.
The NFL Super Bowl is the largest single gambling event in the United States, but there are many more big sporting competitions that attract bettors. March Madness, with the annual college basketball tournament's games spread over much of that month, produces even more wagering.
All this legal sports betting, says the U.S. Census Bureau, is benefiting more state treasuries.
The Census Bureau's Quarterly Survey of State and Local Tax Revenue (QTAX) recently added sports betting, including pari-mutuels, to the list of state and local tax revenue sources it already tracks.
In the third quarter of 2023, the most recent version of the QTAX, sports betting generated national state level sales tax and gross receipts of $505.96 million, up 20.5 percent from the same quarter a year before.
That substantial yearly increase of more than 20 percent earns this weekend's By the Numbers figure recognition.
Top 10 states in betting revenue: New York State reported the largest share of the nation's tax revenue from betting in the third quarter of 2023 with $188.53 million. That represented more than 37 percent of total tax revenue and gross receipts from sports betting in the United States.
Indiana came in a distant second with $38.6 million, and Ohio third with $32.9 million in sports wagering gross receipts.
Completing the QTAX top 10 state government sports betting tax collections list for 2023's third quarter are Illinois with $32.4 million; Pennsylvania with $28.9 million; New Jersey with $20.2 million; Tennessee with $16.1 million; Massachusetts with $13 million; Virginia with $12.9 million; and Montana with $10.6 million.
You also might find these items of interest:
- 6 tax and financial tips for new lottery millionaires
- Winning Super Bowl Swiftie prop bets are taxable income
- Reporting Super Bowl and other gambling winnings on IRS Schedule 1
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Accounting Tutor
How do you think the increasing legalization and growth of sports betting in the U.S. will impact the way we engage with and consume major sports events in the future?