While Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrated the team's win at Super Bowl LIV Sunday night, the Oregon Lottery won big with approximately $150,000 in revenue for state programs through its sports betting mobile app, Scoreboard.
The NFL’s final game of the season between Kansas City and the San Francisco 49ers brought in more than 90,000 bets through the app, with players wagering more than $2 million.
The Scoreboard app acts as a sportsbook for gambling on professional sports, ranging from football to professional darts. The Oregon Lottery said the game was a win for Oregon taxpayers.
“We are pleased so many players enjoyed using the Scoreboard app during the Super Bowl,” Oregon Lottery Director Barry Pack said in a statement. “This game reaches new players and keeps sports betting dollars in Oregon for important state programs.”
According to a gaming activity report from the Oregon Lottery, Scoreboard saw over 18,000 unique players, prompting over 4,000 new registrations during the week ahead of the big game, including 2,700 just over the weekend.
Along with betting on teams, the lottery offered more than 200 “proposition bets,” or novelty bets. Scoreboard players could wager on everything from the number of yards specific players would earn, to defensive touchdowns.
More than 1,900 bets were placed on the winning outcome of the coin toss, and over 1,300 bets on the color of Gatorade that was dumped on the winning coach — roughly 300 bets successfully wagered on orange.
The largest wager of the night was $11,000, with the largest winning return of $21,000. Another bet wasn’t so lucky — the largest loss of the night went to the unlucky gambler who wagered nearly $5,800 on San Francisco to win.
While the Oregon Lottery doesn’t expect comparable numbers to the Super Bowl, officials anticipate that the NBA playoffs will be another big draw for sports bettors depending on the performance of the Portland Trailblazers.
Scoreboard was the first avenue for Oregonians to legally place bets on professional sports after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized state-sponsored sports betting in 2018.
How lottery funds are allocated is guided by the Oregon Constitution. The funds from Scoreboard go to the Oregon Lottery's Economic Development Fund, which is allocated to state programs.
A matching amount equal to sports betting revenue goes to the Employer Incentive Fund, which matches employer contributions to Oregon's Public Employee Retirement System. The Oregon Legislature dedicated sports betting revenue to that fund in the 2019 legislative session through Senate Bill 1049.
As of October, PERS was $27 billion in debt.
“Just like with any lottery game, the addition of Scoreboard gives us an added opportunity to earn maximum profit for the people of Oregon,” Oregon Lottery senior public affairs officer Chuck Baumann said. “Anytime that we’re able to add revenues to go to the beneficiaries for lottery dollars, that’s a good thing.”
According to its website, more than $725 million from Oregon Lottery went toward state and local programs in its 2018 financial year. Much of that goes toward state parks, public education and veterans services.