As we count down to the NCAA Final Four in New Orleans, mobile sports betting is expecting incredible numbers to be wagered. Quarter-billion-dollars have been wagered since mobile sports betting went live. For the Super Bowl, the six mobile sites took in 200-million in bets in February. We asked Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns to estimate the take for this year's final four.
"So we're anticipating heavy wagering, but it's just impossible for me to calculate what kind of revenue spending you're going to see from this. That remains to be seen on who wins and who loses."
Sports betting poured over $200-million in wagers in February. Mobile sports' betting is off the hook… and so are the payouts.
"A lot of Louisiana people bet on Cincinnati and they bet the spread and [the Bengals] beat the spread," Johns says. "So the bettors actually got the better end of the deal in February for mobile and in house sports betting wins."
This month is the NCAA Playoffs with the Final Four culminating in April in New Orleans. So it's entirely possible that February's record numbers could be bested by the next month.
"We anticipate an enormous amount of wagering done," explains Johns. "We've got a lot of out-of-state people coming in that will be able to bet within the confines of Louisiana on their mobile devices."
Johns says it's phenomenal what mobile sports wagering has done for the state. In February, $2.2 million went into Louisiana state coffers.
"Mobile is the absolute best thing that we could've done as far as sports betting goes," Johns says. "It's just working extremely well at this point."
