Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills are the favorites to win Super Bowl LVII.
American gamblers are ready for some football.
A record 46.6 million Americans—or about 18% of the country’s betting age population—plan to wager on National Football League games this season, according to a survey published by the American Gaming Association.
With 31 states now allowing sports wagering, up from 19 in 2020, the number of Americans who plan to get in on the action jumped 40% in two years. The first NFL game will take place Thursday night when the defending Super Bowl champions, the Los Angeles Rams, host the Buffalo Bills, who are favored to win Super Bowl LVII. With more legal options, Americans—who have already wagered $50.4 billion on sports already this year—are expected to gamble more money than ever this NFL season, says Casey Clark, senior vice president at the AGA.
“We’re seeing significant migration of American sports bettors to the legal market,” says Clark. “We’ve always expected that was going to be the trend as legalization spreads across the country.”
The illegal sports betting market has taken a hit in recent years. Of the people who plan to bet on the NFL this season, 13% told the AGA that they would use a bookie, down from 15% of gamblers in 2021 and 18% in 2020.
