Philadelphia Eagles' Nick Foles holds his daughter, Lily, after beating the New England Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl 52 football game Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Nevada’s legal sports books made money on this year’s Super Bowl — barely.
According to Gaming Control Board Analyst Mike Lawton, the unaudited results of this year’s wagering on the game indicate the 198 licensed sports books in Nevada won just $1,170,432 on wagers totaling $158,586,934.
That works out to just seven-tenths of a percent, the lowest win percentage in the past decade. It’s also the highest total amount ever wagered on the game, some $20 million more than last year.
But Lawton pointed out it’s better than 1995 and 2008 when the books actually lost money to Super Bowl bettors.
The Philadelphia Eagles beat the odds on Sunday, upsetting the New England Patriots 41-33.
Over the past decade, only the 2011 game between Green Bay and Pittsburgh brought the books less money — $724,176 on bets totaling $87,491,098. But that’s still a higher percentage at eight-tenths of a percent than this year.
In that decade, the highest win for Nevada’s legal books was 16.5 percent in 2014. When Seattle beat Denver 43-8, sports book operators raked in $19,673,960 in winnings from $119,400,822 wagered.
In the past 10 years, New England has made it to the Super Bowl four times, winning in 2017 and 2015 but losing in 2012 and this year.