Players of Oregon Lottery's online sports betting game Scoreboard will place their bets on the San Francisco 49ers or the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend as the two teams face off on Super Bowl Sunday.
Scoreboard is a mobile app and desktop website that act as a sportsbook, allowing sports gamblers to wager bets on sports ranging from football to professional darts.
Oregon Lottery officials say it’s hard to predict exactly how much revenue the lottery will see over the weekend, but they’re expecting a significant amount of bets.
“With the Super Bowl, it’s the first real big sporting event that’s happening [for Scoreboard] — we’re anxious to see exactly how the players interact with their wagering,” said Chuck Baumann, senior public affairs officer for Oregon Lottery.
“We can only anticipate that it would certainly be one of the top betting games that we’ve had.”
Baumann said Scoreboard’s top game so far was the NFC Playoff game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Philadelphia Eagles on Jan. 5, with over 16,000 bets made and nearly $450,000 wagered.
“[There was] the allure of having the Seahawks being the Pacific Northwest team of choice, but you also have the San Francisco 49ers — there are quite a few 49ers fans up and down the West Coast,” he said.
“We’re anticipating that there will be a lot of action, but exactly how much action, we just don’t know.”
Oregon Lottery doesn’t expect any server issues for players during Sunday’s game. People can make wagers ahead of the Super Bowl, but users can also place bets in real time as the game progresses.
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.
Over the course of three months, more than 22,000 users have registered to place bets and the average amount for professional football games is about $23 per bet, with almost 700,000 bets made so far.
While the app is still in its infancy, Scoreboard alone has amassed nearly $3 million for the state since its launch in mid-October, with over $45 million wagered so far.
“Just like with any lottery game, the addition of Scoreboard gives us an added opportunity to earn maximum profit for the people of Oregon,” 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.
The Oregon Lottery said a gaming activity report gauging the amount of bets and revenue for January and the Super Bowl will be released as soon as Monday.
This story has been updated.