2009 Super Bowl Betting Not Hurt by Financial Crisis
Slightly more money was brought in on this year's multi-million dollar Super Bowl ad spots than last year, the parties are still taking place and of course 2009 Super Bowl betting will go on as it always does, year after year after year.
Even in a down economy, the Super Bowl betting business is booming, WTMJ out of Milwaukee reports. Online gambling websites are reporting brisk business to Gambling911.com.
Same goes for the sports handicapping and free picks market.
"Last year, in Vegas, they bet just under $100 million, and off shore, about $6 billion," said Steve Budin, owner of the gambling site sports-info.com.
"I'm expecting about a 15-20% increase this year."
Budin claims that will be a total increase of about $2 billion.
"It's because at the end of the day, football betting is the absolute last thing that anyone's going to give up," explains Budin.
"It's the last form of affordable entertainment left.
"This is the prom for gamblers. It's the last chance to dance, so everybody's coming out in droves to bet, the first-time betters, the infrequent betters, obviously the more degenerative types like me."
Even in Las Vegas, Gambling911.com has learned that nearly every hotel room on the strip is booked. Any other week, the casino hotels are deeply discounting accommodations as a means of competing with what seems like an endless supply of rooms.
"For one simple shot, nothing else comes close," said Jimmy Vaccaro, director of sports operations and public relations for Lucky's Race & Sports Book, in an interview with the Sacramento Bee.
Vaccaro, considered the authority on the history of Super Bowl betting, said he expects Nevada books to take in some $90 million in bets by kickoff.
Yes, economic hard times have even affected the usually nonplussed gamblers among us.
"It's a little different this year than any other," Vaccaro said. "Everyone is on edge. (Gambling interest) seems to be building, though. We're still optimistic.
"We might feel (the economic downfall) more during March Madness because people love the Super Bowl."
And while the betting may be brisk, that doesn't necessarily translate into people actually going to watch the Super Bowl live in Tampa.
From USA Today:
Downtown hot dog vendor Marty Greenwald expected a leap in business this week, with the five-time NFL champion Pittsburgh Steelers and the upstart Arizona Cardinals meeting Sunday in the fourth Super Bowl this city has hosted.
Instead of crowds, however, Greenwald sees only empty streets.
"This is by far the worst I've ever seen it for a Super Bowl here," he says, "and I've been at this corner for all four."
Here, Super Bowl XLIII has become the Recession Bowl. The NFL's championship celebration usually is where the elite from sports, Hollywood and corporate America meet to party, promote themselves and, maybe, attend the football game. This year, the worst economic climate since the Great Depression is changing that.
The party's over - or at least suspended - for some big-spending companies whose celebrations have been hallmarks of Super Bowl week. Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret, which all threw swanky parties before the game in Glendale, Ariz., last year, are sitting this year out.
General Motors - which is slashing spending and laying off thousands of workers to meet the terms of a $13.4 billion bailout from the U.S. government - canceled its annual Super Bowl travel junket for its top-selling dealers. Other companies that send executives here to promote their products are coming but sending fewer people on tighter budgets.
Can't get to Vegas? BetUS.com was offering hundreds of 2009 Super Bowl betting prop bets in addition to free cash bonus upon opening an online wagering account. ...all from your own living room.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
