It is believed that if bettors had the chance to legally wager on this year’s Super Bowl, featuring the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals on 13 February, handle could have been $300m in California.
This would potentially have seen gross gaming revenue of up to $21m, as well as $2.1m in tax revenue from a single event. Looking at Ohio, handle could have reached $100m, with gross gaming revenue of up to $7m and tax revenue of up to $700,000.
All conclusions and analysis were taken with the assumption that operators in both states were offering a live and legal, digital wagering service with remote registration for at least one full NFL season ahead of the Super Bowl.
This also assumed there would be a minimum of 10 live digital platforms, the games would be competitive into the fourth quarter and that no major technical mishaps would occur.
December saw Ohio Governor Mike DeWine legalise sports betting through the signing of HB 29 into law. At present, state regulators are devising rules for this practice, with the law calling on betting to go live no later than 1 January 2023.
While in California, a tribal retail-only sports betting initiative has been granted through the November 2022 ballot. There stands a possibility of other groups forming further proposals that would allow for mobile wagering at a 10% tax rate.
