US sports betting has its busiest four-day stretch ever during NFL Week 1

[The Buzz]

GeoComply, a company that provides geolocation services to sportsbooks, tracked 58.2 million online transactions that took place Thursday through Sunday with sportsbooks in 18 states and the District of Columbia, marking a 126% increase from the same period at the start of the 2020 NFL season.

Sportsbooks in 18 states and the District of Columbia benefited from the record-setting stretch. New Jersey reported the highest volume of transactions (12.5 million) of the 18 states. Arizona saw more than 271,000 new accounts combine for more than 6.1 million transactions. Nevada’s sports betting handle experienced a 20% increase year-over-year for the four days.

From ESPN:

"It's probably going to be one of our biggest weekends ever," DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN on Sunday night. "All the numbers look very positive."

Online sportsbook PointsBet also reported record betting interest in both the number of bets and amount wagered on the NFL's opening Sunday.

The expansion of legal sports betting in the U.S. hasn't hurt Nevada bookmakers, though. John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, told ESPN that the betting handle this past weekend was up approximately 20% compared to the same weekend last year.

"It was great to hear the crowds in here again on a full NFL Sunday," Murray said. "The mobile betting dominates the landscape these days, but we loved seeing so much over-the-counter business back at the SuperBook after it fell off in 2020 due to the pandemic and occupancy restrictions."

Jeff Stoneback, director of BetMGM sportsbooks in Nevada, said the betting handle on college football also is growing, adding that his books took 50% more action on the Saturday before Labor Day than they did during the same weekend in 2019.

Read more: https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/i...l-opening-week

[gil.langelaan]

Wow, biggest weekends ever.. That's a great result!
Congrats to DraftKings!

[davisjohnson]

I was surprised to see that sports betting is only legal in 18 states. Somehow I always thought that it was a lot more. Thanks for sharing!