Louisiana’s Mobile Launch Sees Immense Success, Mattress Mack Joins the Party
Contents
We’ve been covering the massive sports betting numbers coming out of New York as of late, and for a good reason – the state is quickly becoming the biggest market in the country. However, Louisiana should not be forgotten with its highly successful mobile sports betting launch. The early results out of the Pelican State have been very impressive, and it looks like Louisiana is becoming a significant market in its own right. The American Gaming Association has previously estimated that Louisiana will make around $50 million per year from sports betting.
Louisiana Beats New York on a Per Capita Basis
Louisiana sports bettors were clearly very excited for the state’s launch last Friday as GeoComply, the preeminent location detection software in the sports betting industry, reported that 3.6% of Louisiana’s adult population placed a sports wager during the first 36 hours after the state’s launch. That number beats out the 3.3% of the adult population in New York that recorded a transaction within the first 36 hours of the Empire State’s launch.
Of course, the timing was pretty spectacular for Louisiana as the state launched sports betting just in time for the NFL’s AFC and NFC Championship games, providing plenty of action for new bettors. Most of the country lost money on the Chiefs last week, but Louisiana bettors were likely partial to the Bengals as they pulled off the upset with former LSU players Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. Check out the video below to see the reported transactions via GeoComply on Sunday, January 30, the day of the Conference Championship games.
Comparing Louisiana to Other States
Louisiana has a population of about 4.7 million, making it the 25th-most populated state. However, the Bayou State beat out some more populated states in its mobile sports betting launch. Indiana, Tennessee, and Colorado are all more populated states that didn’t see Louisiana’s level of volume in its launch. GeoComply reported Louisiana had over 2.68 million in geolocation transactions in the first 48 hours after launching the mobile market.
Louisiana made history by becoming the first state to legalize mobile sports betting on a county-by-county (or, in this case, parish-by-parish basis). Nine of Louisiana’s 64 parishes opted not to legalize sports betting, but as was expected, most of the state’s wagers came from its population centers anyways. According to GeoComply, 68% of Louisiana’s mobile sports wagers came from the two most populated parishes, Orleans Parish and East Baton Rouge Parish.
Mattress Mack Hits Louisiana
One of the most famous sports bettors in the industry is Houston’s Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, owner of the Texas Gallery Furniture Stores. Mattress Mack is famous for placing huge wagers on some of the biggest sports events of the year. Earlier this year, Mattress Mack put $1.2 million on the Alabama Crimson Tide to beat the Georgia Bulldogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. In 2021, he won $2.75 million on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl and missed out on a $3.25 million wager on the Houston Astros to win the World Series, which would have paid out $35.6 million.
This week, Mattress Mack did it with a $4.5 million wager on the Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl, a bet he placed with Caesars Sportsbook. McIngvale’s wager is the second-largest Super Bowl bet of all time, narrowly behind a $4.9 million bet on the Super Bowl in 2002, and is the largest legal mobile sports bet in Louisiana history. Of course, that’s a pretty short history, but it’s hard to imagine anyone beating out Mattress Mack anytime soon.
