The Eagles’ mild upset of the reigning two-time champion Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX was good news for sportsbooks throughout the nation but not so much in the Keystone State.
Hometown Team Give Books the Blues
If an underdog wins, there is a pretty good chance the sportsbooks will do well. Favorites are the province of recreational sports bettors and they are also the same faction that routinely bets on parlays, a cash cow for the sportsbooks.
Favorites and over (the total) is the recipe of choice for the average bettor, which means the sportsbooks would have had a blockbuster day had the total stayed under 49 in Super Bowl 59. However, by all accounts, it was still a big money-making day for the sportsbooks as the Eagles proved that the Chiefs were not invincible and wrested the Lombardi Trophy from their clutches.
However, such was not the case for sportsbooks operating in the Eagles’ home state of Pennsylvania. Although casual bettors tend to side with favorites, most of them are also fans and fans always root for their hometown team.
Eagles Fly High
It was not surprising that Pennsylvanians turned out in droves to bet on the Eagles, and when the smoke cleared from Philadelphia’s 40-22 victory over Kansas City, the state’s sportsbooks showed a combined loss of $6.5 million on Super Bowl Sunday. It was only the second losing Super Bowl for Pennsylvania’s sports betting operators with the Chiefs’ 31-20 victory over the 49ers in 2020 being the other and costing the books $3.3 million.
As far as activity goes, the handle on Super Bowl LIX was the largest in Pennsylvania’s regulated sports betting history with $101.5 million being wagered, smashing the previous record by 20% set two years ago of $84.3 million when the hometown Eagles and Chiefs competed in Super Bowl LVII.
The rematch not only proved to be much more widely bet but it was most assuredly more lucrative for most Pennsylvanians than the 38-35 loss Philadelphia suffered at the hands of Kansas City in 2023.
Single Biggest Event
Unlike sportsbooks in Pennsylvania, virtually everywhere else the sports betting operators made out handsomely for a few reasons. First, the underdog Eagles won and that was good news for sportsbooks operating just about anywhere except for the Keystone State. Had the total stayed under and not flown over with a pair of garbage-time touchdowns by the Chiefs with under three minutes left in the game, the results would have been even better for the books.
However, another major reason for the sportsbooks’ Super Sunday was the lack of statistical production from the Eagles’ star running back, Saquon Barkley, who tallied only 57 yards and never scored a touchdown, both of which were the bread and butter of so many same-game parlays.
The same can also be said of the Chiefs’ future Hall of Famer, Travis Kelce, who managed only 39 yards and was also held out of the end zone. Both Barkley’s and Kelce’s failure to post big numbers doomed many prop bets and parlays, bringing the sportsbooks a big return.
“Super Bowl LIX was the single biggest betting event in the history of BetMGM — it took the most bets and was one of the best single-game results in company history. Super Bowl bettors cashed in on the Eagles’ money line and Jalen Hurts Super Bowl MVP, but both defenses slowing down Saquon Barkley and Travis Kelce netted a great result for us,” said Christian Cipollini, a senior trading manager at BetMGM.
