The Super Bowl has come and gone and New Hampshire sports betting saw millions bet on the big game.
Legal sports betting in NH has now seen three Super Bowls, and this year saw the highest participation from bettors.
Super Bowl LVI saw an 8.5% increase in handle for New Hampshire sports betting
Sports betting figures for the 2022 Super Bowl may not be finalized until some time in April. However, initial findings say New Hampshire’s sportsbook saw the biggest handle yet for this year’s big game.
The New Hampshire Lottery estimates sports bettors gambled more than $7.7 million on this year’s Super Bowl. Over $6.5 million in bets were placed on the state’s mobile sportsbook and over $1 million were placed in person.
New Hampshire has a mobile sportsbook app through DraftKings, and it also has three in-person sportsbooks:
- Seabrook at The Brook
- Manchester at Filotimo
- Dover at Filotimo
Comparing handles year-over-year
Total wagers surpassed last year’s Super Bowl handle of $7.1 million in New Hampshire. However, it didn’t reach as high of a number as the New Hampshire Lottery initially expected.
Before the big game, the Lottery’s Executive Director, Charlie McIntyre, said:
“I think we’re looking 8 (million) to 10 (million) this year, which is amazing considering we have no local hook we had last year with Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, so I would say 8 (million) to 10 (million).”
While this year’s handle came in shy of expectation, player winnings could be a lot lower than last year.
After Super Bowl 2021, the New Hampshire Lottery reported that more than $8.8 million was handed out in winnings after the big game. Reason being, “more than 81-percent of wagers [were] placed on the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
Since winnings wiped out profit on Super Bowl bets, no taxes were paid by the sportsbook on bets made for the big game.
This year, however, 70% of New Hampshire sports bets placed on the outcome of the game favored the Cincinnati Bengals. It could be that the state coffers will see a larger sum in taxes from this year’s Super Bowl as a result.
Most popular Super Bowl bets for New Hampshire bettors
Bets favoring the Bengals to win weren’t the only bets made on this year’s Super Bowl game. There were also wagers on individual athlete stats.
Popular bets involving individual players were:
- Matthew Stafford for the game’s MVP
- Ja’Marr Chase or Ja’Marr Chase for a touchdown reception of 50+ yards
- Longshot parlays on Joe Burrow or Matthew Stafford to throw 375+ yards
- Longshot parlays on Burrow or Stafford to throw three touchdowns throughout the game
Novelty prop bets were also common this year. They included bets for a field goal to win the game or bets for a team to score three unanswered touchdowns.
A big portion of NH Super Bowl bets came from Massachusetts residents
An interesting twist in New Hampshire’s Super Bowl sports betting revenue reporting is that a significant portion came from the state’s neighbor.
DraftKings, a Boston-based company, reported that almost one-third of Super Bowl bets in New Hampshire this year were made by Massachusetts residents.
Massachusetts still has not legalized sports betting. This means that any MA resident who wished to bet on the Super Bowl would have had to travel across state lines to do so.
MA Senator and candidate for Lieutenant Governor, Eric Lesser, expressed his disappointment in those figures.
“When seeing numbers like this, it shows Massachusetts residents are actively betting on sports right now, but being done in a way that the state has limited ability to capture for our own benefit.”
Lesser hopes Massachusetts will legalize sports betting before the end of the year. This means New Hampshire and other neighboring states may not see the same sports betting revenue next year.
Sports betting in New Hampshire successful overall
Sports betting in New Hampshire became legal in December of 2019. Over the past two years, more than $1 billion has been gambled and more than $30 million has been paid in the form of taxes.
According to the New Hampshire Lottery, which oversees sports betting in the state, gambling taxes largely go toward education funds.
Since sports fans in New Hampshire are zealous about football, the benefits to the state’s taxes and education system can only increase. McIntyre discussed New Hampshire football fans’ zeal, regardless of the teams that made the big game this year.
“New England sports fans are the best in the country. And even though the Patriots did not make it to the Big Game, this did not deter New Hampshire players from getting in on the action.”
McIntyre also noted the increasing success of sports betting in the Granite State.
“With players betting more than $7.7 million, the volume of wagering speaks for itself as sports betting continues to build momentum in New Hampshire. We look forward to continuing to grow this channel as we work to maximize revenue for our schools.”
