The 2022 NFL season kicked off yesterday, with the Buffalo Bills recording an emphatic 31-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Metrics from GeoComply indicate that this may be the biggest season ever for the US-regulated sports betting market.
The geolocation volumes for betting were up by 77% to 22.6 million from 12.7 million. In New Jersey volumes have risen by a staggering 550% compared to the first NFL season post-PASPA. The Garden State was one of the first US markets to embrace sports betting and saw a 460,000 volume in 2018, which was eclipsed this year, with 3 million bet hits.
New Yorkers, meanwhile, had their first opportunity to bet on pro football yesterday, having legalized it in time for Thursday's opener. GeoComply showed 3.7 million geolocation checks in the Buffalo Bill's home state.
These numbers are seen as a big shift in the paradigm of sports betting as bettors flock from black and gray market betting to the regulated sector. In the Buffalo metropolitan area, sports betting figures rocketed from 86,400 on September 1 to 267,600 on September 8.
About $1bn is bet each week during the NFL season, with the fourth quarter of the year accounting for about 35% of yearly revenue for gambling companies. This has led to a recent groundswell in the opening of sportsbooks for the US’ major betting operators. For instance, BetMGM has teamed up with the Arizona Cardinals to debut a sportsbook at State Farm Stadium, its home ground.
GeoComply provides geolocation statistics for online banking, payments and fraud detection solutions. Its customers in the gaming sector include DraftKings, FanDuel and MGM. The company’s software is installed on over 400 million devices worldwide and analyzes over 9 billion transactions a year.
