BUFFALO (WBEN) - Research from the American Gaming Association released earlier this week predicts roughly 23 million Americans plan to bet on the Super Bowl, combing to risk approximately $4.3 billion.
That may sound like a ton of cash, and it is, but these numbers would actually represent a 37% decrease from last year's Super Bowl.
Despite the research, the Seneca Buffalo Creek Sports Book believes they'll actually handle more volume this year.
"I do believe it will be different for us," said Executive Director of Advertising and Communications Tonia Ineson, comparing their sports book to others around the country. "Other sports books across the country have been open a lot longer than we have, so just because we've only been open a year, I do see that we will have more than we had last year."
If you're not into betting the spread or the money line, Ineson says their prop bets come out Friday, meaning people can bet on something like which player or team scores the first touchdown.
On the topic of gambling on the Super Bowl, most New York Democrats have stated that passing online sports betting will be a priority this year."
"Right now people gamble pretty regularly, they just do it on the black market," said State Assemblyman Pat Burke. "We should regulate that and bring in more resources for the State of New York, and also just treat adults like adults - they can make their own decisions on this stuff, and they're going to do it one way or the other."
However, Democrat State Senator Sean Ryan is more hesitant about online sports betting than his colleagues, saying it won't be as good a revenue source for the state as many claim.
"It's always overstated," Ryan began. "Go ask anyone from a generation ago, the promise of lottery - lottery was supposed to make it so all schools were funded in New York State - well, our school taxes keep going up. There's a lot of false promises built around gambling, and of course the promises are promoted by these major companies whose job it is to take money out of the pockets of New Yorkers and move it to their pockets.
In fact, to get his vote on legalizing online sports betting, Ryan is insistent that some of the state revenue gained should go into helping people with gambling addiction.
"We just have to make sure, when we talk about gambling, that we don't fall for the pipe dream and we understand what the odds are," said Ryan. "The odds are that the people lose and the house wins."
