Super Bowl LVI weekend is here, with the Cincinnati Bengals set to take on the Los Angeles Rams. Data analytics firm PredictHQ suggests that over 100 million Americans[1] will watch the big game on Sunday. And while that may mean more eyeballs for advertisers, it also means that many people will be watching the game for a different reason: sports betting.
Recent changes in state laws across the United States have made sports gambling more accessible. According to the American Gaming Association[2], a record 31 million Americans are expected to place bets on Super Bowl LVI, a staggering +35% increase from 2021. Total bets wagered are expected to approach $8 billion, an even more impressive +78% increase from last year’s Super Bowl.
Of course, when Super Bowl LVI concludes, so too does the NFL season. Americans betting on the big game may still have that speculative itch to scratch, and not many viable alternatives in the near-term. The NBA playoffs are still several months away, and college basketball’s March Madness doesn’t begin for a few weeks. And the MLB season could very well be delayed as owners and the player’s union are engaged in a lockout.
There is thus a chance that sports bettors take a page out of their pandemic playbook and turn back to financial markets, at least for the next few weeks.
Read more: Return to Normalcy Harkens Shift in Retail Trading Era[3]
Parallels exists between sports bettors and traders in financial markets. For example, both groups are engaged in estimating probabilistic outcomes: will Team A cover the spread or beat the moneyline?; what does implied volatility tell us about how Company B’s stock price will move if it beats or misses earnings?
Both sports betting and trading
