When the Chiefs and Eagles face off in the Supe Bowl this Sunday in the United States, sportsbooks around the world will be taking bets on everything from the outcome of the game to the time it takes country star Chris Stapleton to sing the National Anthem. Cloudbet, an online casino and sportsbook specializing in betting with cryptocurrency, estimates that by the time the game is over, those bets will add up to upwards of 20 billion US dollars in total value.

“Several states across America have legalized sports betting over the past few years, pushing trade groups there to estimate at least $16B in US turnover alone for the 2023 Super Bowl”, said a Cloudbet spokesperson. “We see the US market making up about two-thirds of Super Bowl betting, meaning at least $20B in worldwide turnover is entirely possible”.

Of that $20B, Cloudbet sees a potential for $500M or more to be bet in cryptocurrency. “We’re watching two trends happening across crypto that predict a big Super Bowl bet total for crypto this year”, the spokesperson said. “First, there is the general, growing adoption of cryptocurrency as part of corporate and personal portfolios around the world. And second, record user growth on our own platform last year points to a growing appetite for crypto adopters to not only bet on crypto, but to bet with crypto as well”.

Gambling advertising during sports events has also impacted growth, according to Cloudbet. “We don’t currently pay for broadcast advertising or sponsorship during sports, because we prefer to put that money into attracting users through better odds. But the truth is those ads work, and organic traffic to our site continues to rise as more and more people search for where they can bet on sports online, and where they can use crypto to place bets as well”.

With at least 100M global viewers tuning into the Super Bowl this year, some sportsbook advertisers are expected to spend heavily on ads during the game. That will mean a lot of interested sports fans searching “where to bet online” on Sunday. If even a relatively small percentage of those create new accounts and stick with betting into next season, the 2024 global totals could be much, much higher.