Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs on 11 February 2024 at the Allegiant Stadium was the first Super Bowl to be held in the state of Nevada, and the second ever to be decided in overtime. The event boasted record views of around 124 million (up from 113 million last year), with watchers enjoying the longest Super Bowl in history!
It was also a record-breaking 2024 in gambling terms, with an estimated 68 million US adults betting $23.1 billion, compared to last year’s 50.4 million US adults and $16 billion in bets, and a reported 11% increase in wagers across UK & Europe as NFL popularity grows outside the US.
This year also saw at least one $1m bet and a six-figure wager on the coin flip (it landed on tails BTW).
If we look at a few operators, FanDuel reported record $14 million bets on the Super Bowl with a total handle of $307 million, Entain reported 74% YoY increase in quantity of bets in the UK alone, and in Nevada itself, the Gaming Control Board reported a record breaking $185.6m wagered across 182 sportsbooks.
As the largest network, infrastructure and security supplier to the US and global market, Continent 8 can report its stats for Super Bowl LVIII:
- 22% increase in outbound, and 27% increase in inbound global internet network traffic on 2024 game day compared to 2023.
- In the US specifically, the increase was 18% in Internet traffic; our expectation is this will continue to rise as some states, which weren’t live last year, will show in statistics in 2025.
- Cloudflare represented the largest incoming CDN source for Continent 8 at 64%.
- Hyperscale cloud Internet exchanges saw Amazon at 60%, Microsoft at 25% and Google at 15% over the days total Internet exchanged traffic.
- However, in Cloud Exchange terms (Private MPLS connectivity), Continent 8 saw a massive 73.7% increase in total traffic between customer infrastructure and AWS, Azure and GCP.
- The Garden State, specifically Continent 8’s Atlantic City purpose-built data center, saw a staggering 260% increase in Internet network peak between Super Bowls 57 and 58.
Being prepared for a surge in betting
Continent 8 is no stranger to supporting high-traffic sporting contests. Whether it is annually for the Grand National or Cheltenham horse racing events in the UK and Ireland, the UEFA Champions League across Europe, March Madness in the US, or every four years for the UEFA Euro finals or FIFA World Cup, we know what it takes to ensure platform uptime.
As the infrastructure and hosting solution partner of choice to iGaming and sports betting operators and suppliers, live in 30 US states, and supporting 85% of operators on the 2023 EGR US Power Rankings, we have in place the solutions and support systems that ultimately give operators the confidence they need to maximize the acquisition and retention opportunities these events present.
As standard for identified special sporting events, we:
- Put a maintenance activity freeze across the network for the duration of the event.
- Have arrangements to heighten our monitoring of third-party maintenance, too.
- Align shift patterns for our SMC (first and second line support) team for the event.
- Put additional escalation managers and personnel in place for shifts, offering enhanced 24/7 support.
In addition to this:
- NetOps and SysOps teams ensure and verify the capacity of the North American backbone for all major US sites and continue to monitor traffic throughout the event.
- DC Tech and Facilities teams are on hand for onsite support and remote hands engagement
What’s key throughout is ensuring our customers are aware of all activity with notifications regularly sent such as internet and MPLS data, as well as average and maximum traffic in and out.
The Super Bowl is a huge event for sportsbooks, particularly now that the US has opened up online gambling in more than 30 states.
And after a very short amount of breathing space, we prepare for March Madness in the same vein!
Why choose Continent 8 for iGaming hosting in the USA?
Live in 30 states
Our expansion in the US began with a state-of-the-art data centre in Atlantic City, enabling customers to take advantage of the sports betting market opportunities in New Jersey, while gaining immediate access to the Continent 8 global network. Today we are live in 30 US states, with several new states in the pipeline. What’s more, we have secondary sites in several key US states, providing true disaster recovery capabilities.
First-to-market
We have an aggressive strategy to ensure we are the first iGaming hosting provider in state, enabling our customers to capitalise on the fast-growing and competitive US iGaming and sports betting market.
Regulated and compliant
We have vast regulatory experience with strong regulator relationships across states, ensuring a complaint gaming solution for each.
Growing global team
We are a global team with a local presence – we ensure we have a team on the ground in the US to help you expand.
Learn more about our trusted solutions in the USA here or contact the team via sales@continent8.com
Sources: ESPN, EGR
