Author of “Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia” Bill Thompson sums up Super Bowl Fever in one sentence. “The Super Bowl is so much more fun if you have some money on it,” he says, referring to the tens of thousands of sports fans betting on football this year. This year’s Super Bowl is expected to generate $97 million dollars in Nevada alone, with more than $500 million predicted to hit sports betting sites online.

Kevin Smith from BetonSports.com advises that last year over 500,000 individual Super Bowl bets were placed with the Costa Rica-based sports betting site. This year BetonSports.com expects up to 650,000 wagers. “It’s the biggest day of the year for us by a country mile,” Smith says.

Most bets made on Super Bowl action are based on two factors: the total number of points in the game and the game’s outcome. However prop bets are fast becoming a popular way to wager on the Super Bowl without taking the action too seriously. Among the more common are realistic sporting scenarios such as which player will score the first touchdown. But others focus purely on the entertaining side of Super Bowl such as the possibility of the Rolling Stones smoking marijuana before their performance.

Despite the ambiguous legality issues surrounding sports betting in the U.S., record numbers of fans continue to place their bets. While law enforcement agencies have tried to ban the operation of sports books from within the U.S., little can be done about the majority of sites American gamblers visit which are located offshore.

Gambling expert Bill Thompson believes the likelihood of individuals being prosecuted for betting on sports is marginal. “Internet gambling is worth billions of dollars,” Thompson says, advising that only one prosecution of an individual has ever been made in U.S. history.

Similarly, Freddy Harris from YouWager.com states that online gambling is a grey area. “It’s something people want,” he says, “and people don’t feel is terribly harmful.”

Back to February 2006 Online Gambling News
Back to latest Online Gambling News
Back to Online Gambling Archive