Super Bowl LIII: All Bets Are On

January 29, 2019

In this bylined article in CFO, partner and sports group co-chair Irwin Raij discusses the impact that legal sports betting may have on Super Bowl LIII. Though sports betting is not yet available nationally, this year marks the first Super Bowl since the Supreme Court removed barriers to sports wagering last spring.

“The revenues generated from Super Bowl Sunday will be another indication of the strength of the legal sports betting business. If the seven states [where sports betting has been sanctioned] witness a super-sized boom in gambling, it won’t be surprising to see other states pass their own sports-wagering laws. Bills are on the agenda in some 20 legislatures already,” Raij says. He continues, “The biggest winners in the new regime are likely to be sports leagues themselves. With bettors fully vested, media viewership in every sport will trend upward. This season the NFL’s audience increased about 5%, at least partly as a result of new gambling opportunities. Legal wagering could cement live sports broadcasts — the big revenue generator for all the major sports leagues — as the ‘must-see TV’ of the future.”

To read the full article, click here.