Super Bowl Handle

Last year (when the Ravens met the 49ers) set a record for the amount of money bet (handle) on the Super Bowl. This year it exceeded that amount BY 20 PERCENT! Wow. It went way up. A record $119.4 million was legally wagered on Super Bowl XLVIII at the state’s sports books, according to state figures.

Sports books won close to $19.7 million on Super Bowl XLVIII, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced on Monday. The sports books' cumulative profit of about 16.5 percent was the biggest return the state’s regulated books have seen since the Patriots defeated the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX (February 6, 2005).

The safety on the first play of the game put the bookmakers in a huge hole right away (50 grand at the Orleans). There was a 2 point conversion, a defensive touchdown, a special teams touchdown, and the safety was the first score -  all those "flukey" prop bets paid off and were a killer for the books, but with all the public money on Denver, the books didn't care so much about paying those off.

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