Posted on February 5, 2019, by Travis Pulver
Gamblers around the country were hoping to hit it big with their wagers on the Super Bowl. At the same time, with sports betting legal in many states for the first time, many sportsbooks were likely as eager to see how their first Super Bowl would go.
With how the game turned out, there were probably quite a few gamblers with what they thought were good bets left disappointed, some who lost big, and likely a few who scored. At the same time, with many books taking a lot of bets on the Patriots, it may not have gone so well for the sportsbooks either.
Early reports indicate that while a new record wasn’t set this year in Vegas, the books came out ahead. According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, $145.9 million was bet on Super Bowl LIII (down from the $158.6 million wagered last year) with the books taking home $10.8 million.
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Last season, they took home just $1.17 million.
However, the New Jersey sportsbooks didn’t fare nearly as well. In their first Super Bowl, they took $34.9 million in wagers and ended up losing $4.5 million. DraftKings took a seven-figure lost on the 300,000+ bets they took.
FanDuel took a $5 million loss. They apparently took a big hit when Julian Edelman won MVP honors and Sony Michel scoring the first (and only) touchdown.
Many people are probably doing what they need to in order to get over their losses, some bigger than others. For example, the infamous ‘Bettor X,’ an unknown person who won big on the World Series a couple years ago and did quite nicely last year for Super Bowl LII, did not have a good day this time around.
He (or she) placed three wagers on the Rams totaling $3.8 million that would have netted $4.56 million—but obviously lost.
But there is at least one person who took a chance with a wager and ended up cashing in for a pretty nice score. This lucky fan put down $250 on the Rams scoring just three points. But that’s just silly, right? Who would have thought that the second highest scoring offense in the NFL would only score a field goal in the biggest game of the year?
This person can claim that they did and laugh all the way to the bank with a nice $100,000 pay day.
It is not hard to imagine how excited this fan had to be when the first half went as poorly as it did for the Rams. When the Rams lined up for a late field goal that would have given then six points, the anxiety had to have been intense—but then the elation after he missed quite a relief.
Other bettors had money on the Rams scoring only three points. But the odds on it happening were not nearly as good as this lucky fan (100 to 1 for the 27 bettors at William Hill).