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Georgia sports bettors did everything they could to place a legal sports bet during Super Bowl weekend, according to new data from geolocation firm GeoComply.
The company’s analysis of more than 70,000 attempted sports bets during the weekend of the big game showed an 87% increase in attempts to access legal sportsbooks.
The news is no surprise to Georgia sports betting advocates like the Sports Betting Alliance, which sponsored the GeoComply study.
🚨Today, we are releasing new Super Bowl data. This time from states sitting on the sports betting legalization sidelines.
🔍Read our latest blog and learn about the missed opportunity in #Alabama, #Georgia, #Minnesota, #Mississippi and #Missouri.https://t.co/oEoIpfvPun
— GeoComply (@GeoComply) February 14, 2024
GeoComply finds huge jump in Georgia sports betting accounts
Among other things, GeoComply’s job is to identify the exact location of an attempt to open and use a legal online sportsbook. Doing so ensures that bets are placed online in states with legal sports betting.
GeoComply’s data found 11,000 mobile sports betting accounts in Georgia over Super Bowl LVIII weekend. The company said that figure represented a more than 74% increase over the previous year.
Additionally, the company found that 33% of all log-in attempts were made on Tennessee sports betting apps.
The trends observed during Super Bowl weekend only confirmed data that GeoComply gathered in 2023.
This past year, GeoComply processed more than 3.4 million geolocation checks in Georgia. The company noted that it found more than 290,000 mobile sports betting accounts in Georgia.
Furthermore, more than one million of those geolocation checks were from users trying to access legal Tennesse online sportsbooks.
Sports betting advocates concerned about losing business to neighbors
Georgia borders three states with legal sports betting: Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida. Florida and Tennessee have mobile sports betting. North Carolina has retail sports betting and will launch NC online sports wagering on March 11.
Georgia lawmakers’ inability to pass sports betting laws has left the state standing by as tax revenue generated by sports betting finds refuge in neighboring states.
Advocates of Georgia sports wagering want that movement of tax dollars to stop.
The Sports Betting Alliance, a sports wagering advocacy group led by DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, and BetMGM, expressed its frustration in a press release about the GeoComply study it commissioned.
The release noted that there is plenty of interest in legal sports betting in Georgia and that the state is losing bettors to Tennessee.
John Pappas, a spokesperson for GeoComply, said in the press release that his firm’s analysis shows that Georgia lawmakers need to take action on legal sports betting.
“Our research and data demonstrate a very clear and growing trend —Georgians will seek out legal alternatives to sports betting. The passage of legal sports betting in Georgia would yield millions in revenue for Georgia taxpayers, rather than it being siphoned off by neighboring states and illegal offshore sportsbooks.
Legalization and regulation will ensure these lost dollars stay in Georgia for the benefit of the state and residents.”
