• Horseshoe Casino, Indiana’s largest casino, is expected to launch their sportsbook on September 4, 2019, the day before the 2019 NFL season will begin.
  • The American Gaming Association estimated that American’s wagered $6 billion on last season’s Super Bowl alone.
  • MS sportsbooks show last season that betting on college football is often more popular than betting on the NFL in Southern State’s.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With the NFL preseason in full swing and the college football regular season in sight, sportsbooks in the U.S. are gearing up for what is often seen as the most profitable time of the year.

Gaming facilities in Iowa such as Lakeside Hotel and Casino are set to launch the state’s first-ever sportsbooks this week in anticipation of the upcoming season.

Horseshoe Casino, the largest casino in Indiana, is also looking to become one of the first sportsbooks in its respective state to launch. In an interview with nwitimes, Noah Hirsch, Horseshoe Casino assistant general manager, hinted that the sportsbook should be set to launch around Labor Day.

“We’re really excited for the energy that it will bring to our casino and to our gaming floor,” said Hirsch.

As recent history has shown, sports betting during football season will not only bring in energy to the casinos that offer it but also a large amount of money.

Back in 2015, the American Gaming Association estimated that $95 billion was going to be wagered on both NFL and college football that season. Since the federal ban on sports betting known as PASPA hadn’t been repealed yet, it was also estimated 98% of that money was going to go to offshore sportsbooks.

However, once PASPA was repealed, several states jumped on the opportunity to formally legalize sports betting. Those states included New Jersey, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. New Jersey and Mississippi both launched their sportsbooks before the start of the 2018 football season.

In a more recent study, the American Gaming Association estimated that nearly 1-in-10 American adults had planned to bet on this year’s Super Bowl 53, totaling to an amount of $6 billion. While most of that money still went to alternative sportsbooks, state-regulated betting facilities still got a sizable cut.

When looking at sportsbooks in New Jersey, it’s easy to see that betting on the NFL had a significant impact on the number of wagers coming in since they launched.

Sports betting in the Garden State originally launched in June of 2018 and finished their first month with a handle totaling $16,409,619. By the time September came around the monthly handle had increased to $183,948,404 and last January, during the NFL playoffs, the state took in an all-time record high handle at $385,279,662 for the month.

Our sports betting revenue tracker shows similar results in other states. There is a clear spike in betting during the fall and winter months in which football is played. However, in Southern State’s such as Mississippi, college football betting draws the most action.

“SEC football – it’s where the action is here,” said George Cole, sportsbook director of Imperial Palace to Sports Illustrated at the time of their launch in 2018. The casino had to have separate betting slips specifically for the SEC games played that weekend, due to the high demand.

Iowa may be looking at a similar situation given the fact that the state also does not have any professional sports franchises, and instead, has two Division 1 Power Five schools to cheer for and bet on.

In either case, many sportsbooks across the country new or otherwise, know the value that football brings to their sportsbook. That is why retail facilities such as the DraftKings Sportsbook at Resorts Atlantic City will offer drink specials each Sunday this Fall to attract NFL bettors.

Football is king, and that saying is as true as ever when it comes to sports betting in the U.S.

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