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Delaware doesn’t have any pro team in the area. However, it’s surrounded by tons of them. Get this, four of the biggest markets in the country are about 125 miles from the Delaware border. Those four markets include Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington D.C.
Welp, one of those teams was just in the Super Bowl — the biggest betting event of the year for top mobile betting apps. And it just so happens Philly is the closest of the four markets to Delaware. Due to that proximity, there was an “Eagles bump” on betting numbers. Keep reading and we’ll take you into this phenomenon.
Eagles Boost Delaware Betting Toll
The Delaware Lottery oversees all of Delaware’s betting industry. They recently reported the numbers — all of which is 100 percent transparent as it’s public money.
According to the Delaware Lottery, betting was up big time this year compared to the 2024 Super Bowl matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Last year, that event attracted 10,000 unique bettors in the state, they say. This year? The number of unique bettors jumped to 18,000 — that’s an entire 80 percent better. Among them, the state saw around 100,000 bets on the Super Bowl. A year ago, the total bets was a much more modest 57,000.
Perhaps most impressively, the state saw 2,000 completely new sign-ups — as in accounts that registered strictly for the Super Bowl. The “big game” is indeed a tentpole event that attracts new eyeballs to the space, hence why brands splurge so big on ads, especially sportsbook operators. Now you have concrete data that backs that in this state.
Yes, there is an Eagles bump that can be attributed here due to many fans of the team in the state. However, it would be foolish to associate all the gains due to the team. Another factor is the state’s legal betting market is in better shape this year. BetRivers — the official sportsbook of the state (and the only one legally allowed) — had only been up and running for six weeks in 2024. This time around, bettors are fully used to their service.
Did Delaware Lose Money Off The Eagles Win?
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know the Eagles trounced the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. It ended with an 18-point victory, but honestly, it was a bigger blowout than that if not for some garbage-time points by Kansas City.
Given all the Delaware bettors with a rooting interest in the Eagles, you’d expect most of the betting money to be on them. It was, said the Delaware Lottery Executive Director Helene Keeley. Throw in the fact that Philly was also betting underdogs, that could mean local bookies were liable for big losses once the upset was complete. But Keeley tells us it wasn’t that bad.
“So in 2018, we took a $600,000 hit. Now our parlay cards were down, but with our online mobile app collectively, we were down $200,000 and I’ll round up $244,000. So we were a negative less than 4%, but our online actually made money,” Keeley explained.
She mentions 2018 because that was the last time the Eagles won a Super Bowl. In that game, they upset the New England Patriots. As Keeley points out, they took a bigger beating that year than this one, which was a more tolerable loss. Unfortunately, many other states can’t say the same elsewhere.
Other States Fared Differently Than Delaware
Sure, Delaware has their share of Philly fans, but it’s nothing like the actual state where the Bird Gang plays — Pennsylvania. As you can imagine, Pennsylvania sports betting took a huge hit thanks to the Super Bowl. The total damage done to Pennsylvania-based bookies was $6.5 million, according to figures released by the state gaming control board. So when Eagles fans took to the streets of Philadelphia to celebrate the win, they could afford to be extra reckless knowing they had tickets to cash out. Explains a lot, eh?
The board also mentioned that betting activity reached a record $101.5 million wagered on the big game. This marked a 20.4 percent increase over the previous record set in 2023 when the Philadelphia Eagles fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
Pennsylvania’s loss was everyone else’s gain, however. For instance, the New York Gaming Commission reported a net win of $47.4 million for the state’s sportsbooks on the Super Bowl. Among casual bettors, most are more likely to bet on the favorites, which were the Chiefs. Most folks banked wrong on a three-peat title from the would-be dynasty.
The same transpired in Nevada. Here, local sportsbooks achieved a record-breaking $22.1 million net win on the Super Bowl, surpassing the previous high of $19.7 million earned during Super Bowl XLVIII, when the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos. Beyond just the upset win, Nevada books won huge on players props around Saquon Barkley and Travis Kelce, both of whom underperformed big time.
Delaware and Pennsylvania bookies can lick their wounds February, but they’ll have solace in knowing they’ll likely rebound the rest of this year. “The house always wins”, as they say.
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