LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It’s perhaps the biggest betting night of the year with millions of dollars in bets placed on the Super Bowl. It’s also reinforcing Las Vegas as a destination for the big game without being a host city.
“Everybody’s here and you can feel the electricity in the air.”
An electricity that’s flowing through the Westgate SuperBook. Hundreds of people are glued to the TV wondering if their Super Bowl bets will pay off. Some making their only bets for the year.
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“Just $20. Just an easy bet. We’re just dipping our toes right now,” Alex Tellez, who lives in Las Vegas, said.
“It’s the Super Bowl and you got to go for the underdog. I heard that’s the most exciting thing to do,” Kayla Marquez, who lives in Las Vegas, said.
Others going all in on prop bets and the game.
“Today three grand in bets. Usually ten to twenty grand, but I was low today. Three grand.” Steven Strobell, who lives in Las Vegas, said.
The Westgate says betting the Super Bowl remains one of its biggest nights and believes it’s already better than last year.
“We’re hoping we’ll surpass it. I know Nevada handled $136 million. I think we’ll be just above that,” Jay Kornegay, Westgate SuperBook vice president, said.
And much of that money is coming from outside the Silver State. The data firm Applied Analysis says about 310,000 people came to Las Vegas on Super Bowl weekend in 2019, making an economic impact worth roughly $425 million. At Circa in downtown Las Vegas, owner Derek Stevens says he’s not surprised by that.
“Everybody comes into town. There are so many parties. We’re doing seven parties ourselves,” he said.
Parties that will continue well after the game ends.
“What’s a better time than the Super Bowl man? What’s a better time than the Super Bowl?” Tellez said.