Pennsylvania Books Clean Up, Collect $9.4M In Super Bowl Revenue

Sportsbooks collect $9.4 million in revenue from betting on Super Bowl LV, a stark reversal from 2020, as $53.6 million was wagered.
Super Bowl 2021 Pennsylvania Handle
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A dramatic increase in handle and an unexpected Super Bowl outcome resulted in a big night for sports betting operators across Pennsylvania.

According to preliminary figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Tuesday, handle surged nearly 75% year-over-year to $53.6 million for Sunday’s 31-9 victory by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Kansas City Chiefs. The outright win by the underdog Buccaneers proved highly profitable for operators, who posted a win rate of 17.56%, resulting in almost $9.4 million in revenue.

That was a $12.75 million swing in revenue from last year, when the Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. That resulted in Pennsylvania sportsbooks paying out more than $34 million in winning bets on nearly $30.7 million in wagers accepted.

The Keystone State coffers filled with nearly $3.2 million in tax receipts from Sunday’s outcome based on a 34% rate on operator revenue.

Mobile keeps PA in third spot for generating handle

The potential to place wagers across the state increased again from year to year as Pennsylvania sportsbooks offered Super Bowl wagering for the third straight year. Compared to 2020, when there were 12 retail sportsbooks and eight mobile operators, there were 15 and 12, respectively, for Sunday’s game. That resulted in nearly $47.5 million of the Super Bowl handle being generated via mobile wagering, a 97.6% increase from the $24 million bet in 2020.

The mobile win rate was 19.83%, higher than the overall win rate as retail sportsbooks paid out more than $6.16 million in winning wagers for a minus-0.4% win rate. That was a substantial improvement from 2020 — for the house — when the retail books were pounded and recorded a minus-6.7% win rate.

Among states that have reported Super Bowl handles and revenue, Pennsylvania ranks third in both categories, trailing Nevada and New Jersey and ahead of Illinois as the four states have combined for more than $350 million in handle and nearly $41 million in revenue. The Keystone State, though, has the highest win rate of the quartet, edging out the 16.79% hold Illinois posted according to its state Gaming Board.

Barstool does sweepstakes make-good due to outage

Barstool Sportsbook was not the only mobile operator to deal with outage issues due to the unprecedented surge in mobile sports wagering for the Super Bowl, but it greatly affected the flashy newcomer’s top offer for the game.

Bettors who placed a $100 bet by Friday among any of 11 stipulated betting options were enrolled in the “Big Game Live Bet Showdown” in which they were assigned five Barstool personalities in a live betting contest. If the bettor was matched with the winning personality, that person’s account would be credited with $1,000 in bonus betting funds.

Due to the outages, Barstool Sports awarded everyone who placed an eligible wager for the promotion for the $1,000 in sportsbook bonus cash.

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