GeoComply reports record NFL betting on opening weekend
Geolocation data shows a 71.5 per cent year-on-year increase for the first weekend of the football season.
US.- The geolocation data firm GeoComply has reported a big start to the NFL season based on geolocation volume data for sports betting. The first four days of the new season, from September 8 through September 11 saw 103.1m bets, a 71.5 per cent increase year-on-year.
The results were boosted by the legalisation of sports betting in Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana and New York since last year’s NFL. In terms of transactions, New York was the leading market, with a 15.3 per cent market share, followed by Pennsylvania with a 39.7 per cent rise to 15.3m.
Illinois jumped 60 per cent from 5m in 2021 to 8m this weekend after legislators allowed mobile registration instead of in-person registration at the state’s casinos and tracks. New Jersey and Michigan rounded out the top five performing states, with 13.1 and 9.4 per cent of the market respectively.
GeoComply CEO Anna Sainsbury said: “Our data indicates 71.5 per cent growth from this same period last year, clearly an unbelievable start to the NFL season. The growth of legal betting suggests that Americans are ditching offshore sportsbooks for regulated options in their home states.
“This is exactly the outcome legislators and regulators looked to achieve through legalization as they now protect consumers and increase tax revenues.”
For the opening day, the geolocation volumes for betting hit 22.6m, up 77 per cent from 12.7m on the opening Thursday in 2021. In New Jersey, volumes rose by 550 per cent compared to the first NFL season post-PASPA, reaching 3m.
In February, GeoComply reported that 80.1m betting transactions took place over the Super Bowl weekend in the US. That was an increase of 226 per cent compared to 2021 after a year that’s seen a huge expansion in legal online sports betting in the US.
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), 46.6 million American adults (18 per cent) plan to bet on the new National Football League (NFL) season, up three per cent year-over-year.
