The Eagles won big in Super Bowl 59, and so did Nevada sportsbooks.
The state’s 186 books won a record $22.1 million on the Eagles’ 40-22 blowout of the Chiefs in Sunday’s NFL title game in New Orleans, according to figures released Tuesday by the Gaming Control Board.
The Super Bowl win surpassed the state’s previous record of $19.7 million set in 2014, when the Seahawks whipped the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl 48. The hold percentage, or win percentage, of 14.6 percent was the highest since books held 16.4 percent of wagers in the 2014 Super Bowl.
The betting handle, or amount of money wagered on the game, was $151.6 million. That number dropped dramatically from last year’s state record of $185.6 million that was bet on the first Super Bowl played in Las Vegas.
“Nothing can really compare to the game being here last year,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “It’s an anomaly when it’s in your backyard. We’ve seen that with other big events here. Anything that’s here, the handle’s crazy.”
It was the state’s lowest Super Bowl handle since 2021, when $136.1 million was bet on the Buccaneers’ 31-9 blowout of the Chiefs. The handle was lower than the $153.2 million wagered on the Chiefs’ 38-35 win over the Eagles in Super Bowl 57 in 2023.
There were no $1 million bets reported on Sunday’s game, while last year’s Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium drew eight $1 million wagers nationwide, including five that were placed in Las Vegas.
“The handle wasn’t as robust as last year. Of course, that can be attributed to the event being here and all the high rollers being here for the game,” MGM Resorts director of trading Lamarr Mitchell said. “But going into the game, our best-case scenario was the Eagles win outright and go over. So it was a really, really good win for the house.”
Philadelphia won as a 1-point underdog and the total flew over 48½.
BetMGM in Nevada took the four biggest bets reported on the game, including $750,000 each on the Chiefs on the money line (-120) and against the spread (-1½), as well as wagers on Kansas City of $345,000 and $326,000. The book also took several six-figure wagers on the under.
“Even though the public typically bets the over in this game,” Mitchell said, “all of our big bets were on the under.”
BetMGM also had an historic win on the game nationwide.
“Super Bowl (59) was the single biggest betting event in the history of BetMGM — it took the most bets, and was one of the best single-game results in company history,” BetMGM senior trading manager Christian Cipollini said. “Super Bowl bettors cashed in on Eagles money line and (Philadelphia quarterback) Jalen Hurts (winning) Super Bowl MVP. But both defenses slowing down (Eagles running back) Saquon Barkley and (Chiefs tight end) Travis Kelce netted a great result for us.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at [email protected]. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
