As expected, the 2023 Super Bowl served as the biggest betting event in the short history of the state-regulated sports betting era. According to GeoComply, the company conducted 100 million geolocation checks over the weekend, led by New York with 13.9 million pings on Saturday and Sunday.
GeoComply Co-Founder & CEO Anna Sainsbury commented: “Super Bowl LVII was a record-breaking event,” Anna Sainsbury, co-founder and CEO of GeoComply, said in a statement. “GeoComply data reveals that Americans’ interest in legally betting on the Super Bowl has never been higher.”
While also recording the most geolocation checks nationwide, NY sports betting also ranked second with 851,000 unique accounts, only outpaced by Ohio with 1.1 million.
NY sports betting leads Super Bowl betting activity
Across 24 US jurisdictions, GeoComply reported a 25% increase in Super Bowl betting geolocation checks year over year, with 7.4 million accounts (32% increase) generating over 100 million geolocation checks. That includes over 8,000 accounts and 100,000 pings near State Farm Stadium, host of Super Bowl 57.
Of course, as has been the case since launching in January 2022, New York led the way with 13.9 million geolocation checks.
All told, New York led Ohio (12.6 million) and Pennsylvania (11.8 million) in states that accounted for over 10 million geolocation checks. Of course, the latter was bolstered by having a team representing the Keystone State in the Super Bowl: The Philadelphia Eagles.
For comparison, the home of the Kansas City Chiefs — Kansas, which launched legal sports betting just in the fall — saw just under 2.2 million geolocation checks.
GeoComply lauds crackdown on fraudulent activity
Arguably the biggest emphasis of its data announcement, GeoComply noted that it “spotted and blocked” more than 140,000 fraud attempts over Super Bowl weekend.
In doing so, according to GeoComply, the company “protected consumers and sportsbooks from fraud rings, account takeovers, ID theft, and other financial fraud.”
As Sainsbury indicated, this shows that legalizing sports betting and installing proper guardrails creates a world in which “the industry has the data to stop (fraudulent activity) before it starts.”
“GeoComply’s unprecedented transaction figures from this Super Bowl weekend reflect the growth of legal online sports betting. This tightly regulated industry emphasizes consumer protection, transparency, and accountability. Every state that regulates sports betting is a blow to the predatory black market that operates in the shadows, providing zero safeguards for bettors and no economic benefit to the local community.”
How much Super Bowl betting occurred in New York?
With over 13 million geolocation checks, which tracks individual transactions, there is little doubt that New York saw ample betting activity during Super Bowl 57. Exactly how much was bet for the big game remains to be seen.
According to the New York State Gaming Commission, the state expects to release official NY Super Bowl betting numbers within the next few days.
Coming off the biggest month not only in New York history but nationwide, in which Empire State bettors combined for over $1.8 billion in bets, expectations were high heading into the weekend.
Projections suggested that jurisdictions with legalized sports betting would combine for some $1.1 billion on the NFL championship. Just behind Nevada, PlayNY estimated that New York would generate over $150 million in Super Bowl betting handle.
