The Super Bowl LVI 2022 is set to take place on Sunday, 13 February, at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California. It will be the 56th Super Bowl and the climax game for the 2021-2022 NFL season.
This year is looking to be an incredibly exciting game – more so because it will be the first in an (almost) post-pandemic world and spirits and expectations are high. However, there is no doubt that Covid-19 has harmed the sports scene especially when it comes to sports betting. The odds of winning the Super Bowl and which team would take home the trophy used to be the highlight of many online sportsbooks and one of the biggest sports betting events of the year, but last year saw a drastic decrease in revenue around Super Bowl betting time.
Whether due to the unemployment crisis the world was facing or due to unprecedented times, many online sites are hoping this year will be different.
Let’s take a look at some of the issues they faced last year to get an overview of just how important the Super Bowl is for sportsbooks’ bottom line.
It Was Not A Win-Win
Despite last year being the largest betting event for legal online sportsbooks, with a record 7.6 million bettors placing their wagers, betting was still down by 37% compared to 2020. This is also taking into account the fact that many new states had legalized sports betting in 2021, including Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, and Washington.
Another reason was that many Americans were not participating in betting pools with their colleagues at the office, nor betting casually with friends. Many could not get together at the local sports bar, or hang out during the game at each other’s homes. In-person betting at a sportsbook in well-known gambling cities like Atlanta and Las Vegas experienced a 61% decrease-due of course, to the pandemic and restrictions that were enforced countrywide.
Don’t think these percentages make a huge difference overall? The previous Super Bowl game brought in $6.8 billion, as opposed to the $4.3 billion in 2021. Overall, sports betting brought in $8 billion in 2019 and $21 billion in 2020 – the huge jump being attributed to people flocking back to their favorite sports as soon as everything opened up.
We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties
And then, the unthinkable happened. At a time in our digital age where everything is related to technology in some way, the most popular online sportsbooks experienced a power outage. BetMGM in Nevada, Fanduel, and DraftKings went down minutes before the game was about to start.
Imagine being a huge sport betting fan, eagerly awaiting the biggest game of the year, unable to bet, and then finding out yours would have been a winning wager? It no doubt feels worse than losing an actual wager.
Despite expecting the huge traffic to the site, and prepping for it for weeks before, ten minutes before the game, fans were unable to place any wagers. The provider for the majority of these sites is Kambi, who said the problem was due to a huge increase in traffic. This was because there was one specific player-related bet offer that expanded the scope of possible outcomes related to the Super Bowl, and the site could not deal with it. Luckily, it was fixed eight minutes before the game was about to start.
This is not the first time sports betting sites have encountered technical issues. During the NFL season, many major sportsbooks dropped because of a geolocation outage. This provides verification to the gambling site that the bettor is located in the state where they want to wager.
We’re Feeling ‘22
This year, however, things look far more positive for online sportsbooks come Super Bowl time. Although COVID isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, herd immunity and mass vaccination drives mean that people can start returning to normal, albeit a new normal. Families can start hanging out together during the game, colleagues can have a barbecue and place a bet, and people can finally visit their favorite sports bars and make their wagers in person.
DraftKings has also ended its partnership with Kambi, moving on to SB Tech. And so far, stats are up from the previous two years for multiple online sportsbooks. So get together with your friends and families, make your bets and most importantly, enjoy the game.
