With an estimated $23.1 billion to be bet on the Super Bowl, there is no doubt that the NFL’s decision to finally play its big game in Las Vegas is having a huge impact on the sports gambling market.
For announcer Tony Romo, all the betting publicly attached to the Super Bowl is too much.
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Romo, a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, will join Jim Nantz in the booth for CBS’ international TV broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
But the clear connection between the NFL and sports gambling is a slippery slope, according to Romo.
“I grew up where we never talked about or thought about lines or anything like that in football,” Romo told The Athletic. “The angle that I try to communicate to the audience is how to win this game for this team, or not to lose it in some cases.
“But once you start going into that world, it strikes me as you’ve got to be great at two things. Now you’re affecting people’s lives with what you’re saying in some way. It just makes it feel less pure and less like the stuff that you grew up on.”
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Nantz said the information is “already out there” and affecting golf broadcasts, among others.
“Thankfully, not ours. I cringe,” the veteran announcer said. “But I think the broadcasters that have had to do it so far, they don’t have a say in that. It’s a revenue source for the companies that employ them, and I believe it will be much more widespread with each passing year.”
He added: “We’re not setting lines, and I don’t think anybody’s asking us which way to bet. I think we’d be basically reading what the odds are. The idea that it becomes commonplace in the broadcast? I give it 2 1/2 years. But I’m pulling for the over.”
More than one quarter of the American adult population could bet on this Super Bowl.
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“Approximately 67.8 million adults — 26% of the adult population of the United States — could combine to bet $23.1 billion on Super Bowl LVIII between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, according to survey results released by the American Gaming Association,” ESPN reported. “Both figures — the number of bettors and the amount wagered — are up significantly from last year’s survey.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the impact of betting on the sport during his annual Super Bowl press conference.
Before, pro football avoided any connection with sports betting.
In 2024, the Super Bowl is in Las Vegas with two of the league’s best-known teams facing off before an international audience, and legal sports gambling is impossible to ignore.
“The integrity of our game is critical. And so we spend a lot of time focusing on that, educating, making sure that all of our personnel are aware of our gambling policies, in this case or any other policy that can affect the integrity of our game,” Goodell said.
“This week coming in here, we wanted to make sure — not just the two teams, but every other club would likely have representatives here — we wanted to make sure they understood it, our league staff and everyone else, so that they understood exactly what our policies were here. They all understand the importance of it.
“We clarified our policy earlier this year, and it was to put the importance for our players betting on NFL games or inside information or anything that would negatively impact the integrity of our game is absolutely off limits.”