Super Bowl LIX between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9th, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome, was the eleventh Super Bowl to be held in New Orleans, and it was not the close affair we expected! In fact, the Eagles reached an insurmountable lead of 34 points before the Chiefs managed a first score. The event boasted record peak views of around 135 million, up from 124 million last year.
It was also a record-breaking 2025 in gambling terms, with significant growth in online betting compared to last year’s, reflecting the continued expansion of legal online sports betting in the US. An estimated $1.39 billion was gambled on Super Bowl LIX, up from $1.25 billion in legal bets for Super Bowl LVIII — a growth of about 11%. This figure marks the first time the American Gaming Association (AGA) based its estimate solely on legal wagers, unlike previous years that included illegal and casual bets, suggesting the actual increase in regulated online activity could be even higher as the market shifts toward legal channels.
This year also saw at least one $1m bet and a six-figure wager on the coin flip (tails by the way).
Continent 8 customer, FanDuel, reported record-breaking activity for Super Bowl LIX, with over 16.6 million bets placed by almost 3 million customers, a nearly 20% increase in bets from the 14 million recorded for LVIII (which totalled $307 million in wagers from 2.5 million users). In New York alone, a key online sports betting market, the Super Bowl LIX week saw a handle (total amount wagered) of over $557 million, with $155 million tied directly to the game, outpacing last year’s figures. FanDuel’s handle in New York for that week was $222.2 million, and DraftKings reported $193.9 million, both reflecting robust growth.
As the largest network, infrastructure and cybersecurity supplier to the US and global regulated iGaming market, Continent 8 can report its stats for Super Bowl LIX:
Continent 8 is no stranger to supporting high-traffic sporting contests. Whether it is annually for the Grand National or Cheltenham horse racing events in the UK and Ireland, the UEFA Champions League across Europe, March Madness in the US, or every four years for the UEFA Euro finals or FIFA World Cup, we know what it takes to ensure platform uptime.
As the partner of choice for iGaming and sports betting hosting, for both operators and suppliers alike, live in 31 US states, and supporting more than 90% of the largest brands in the marketplace (EGR US Power Rankings), we have the solutions and support systems in place that ultimately give companies the confidence they need to maximise the acquisition and retention opportunities these events present.
As standard for identified special sporting events, we:
In addition to this:
What’s key throughout is ensuring our customers are aware of all activity with notifications regularly sent such as internet and MPLS data, as well as average and maximum traffic in and out.
The Super Bowl is a huge event for sportsbooks, particularly now that the US has opened up online gambling (in varying capacity) in 31 states.
And after a very short amount of breathing space, we prepare for March Madness in the same vein!
Live in 31 states: Our expansion in the US began with a state-of-the-art data centre in Atlantic City, enabling customers to take advantage of the online sports betting market opportunities in New Jersey, while gaining immediate access to the Continent 8 global network. Today, we are live in 31 US states, with several new sites in the pipeline.
First-to-market: We have an aggressive strategy to ensure we are the first iGaming hosting provider in state, enabling our customers to capitalise on the fast-growing and competitive US iGaming and online sports betting market. Most recently, we went live in Missouri.
Regulated and compliant: We have vast regulatory experience and a dedicated compliance team, with strong regulator relationships across states, ensuring a complaint iGaming hosting solution for each.
Growing global team: We are a global team of 300+ specialists with a local presence – we ensure we have a team on the ground in the US to help you expand.
Learn more about our trusted solutions in the US here or contact the team via sales@continent8.com
The Super Bowl has once again set new records for sports wagering. While the final figures are still being confirmed, the American Gaming Association projected an unprecedented $1.39 billion in legal bets on Super Bowl LIX. Sportsbook companies such as FanDuel have already reported a 19% increase in bets compared to the previous year, reaching a new peak of 16.6 million bets from nearly three million active users.
During this historic Super Bowl weekend, Continent 8 Technologies, the leading industry provider of managed global hosting, connectivity, cloud, and cybersecurity solutions, served as the crucial backbone of the Super Bowl’s betting network, enabling the majority of bets worldwide. In this blog, we explore the detailed planning and preparation that support our customers during premier sporting events.
Preparation for the Super Bowl began well in advance of the event. In the last couple of years, we have invested heavily in strengthening our network relationships through our enhanced ‘Know Your Customer’ philosophy. This strategy includes launching and engaging in in-depth discussions at our Customer Advisory Board meetings, investing in executive sponsor programs and maintaining ongoing, insightful and strategic dialogues to address our customers’ current and future needs. This KYC approach ensures the creation of tailored, comprehensive road maps for each of our customers, enabling us to proactively anticipate and meet their needs through key support initiatives and activities, including the Super Bowl event
With the Super Bowl scheduled for the second Sunday of February, we prepared for the anticipated surge in internet activity. Edward O’Connor, our Chief Technical Officer, shares the technical strategy leading up the event. “Our technical preparation began months prior to the Super Bowl. This centred around infrastructure and network upgrades and optimisation – including bandwidth increases in all key peering and IX locations, cloud infrastructure refreshes, among other changes – to ensure an interruption-free operation.”
As the event approached, the team developed a detailed preparation checklist concentrated around five key pillars. The checklist included:
A typical Super Bowl game lasts about 3 hours and 37 minutes. However, our ‘live’ Super Bowl experience lasted over five days, from Thursday to Monday. Our dedicated team managed game-specific operations, while a company-wide communication channel was available for check-ins or service requests.
To enhance our efforts, additional staff and resources were deployed on game day, across multiple global security centres as well as on customer sites, monitoring and optimising network performance in real time.
Continent 8 teams monitoring network activity across our various ‘war rooms’.
The Philadelphia Eagles’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, with a score of 40-22, ended without any network or connectivity issues, despite what Edward described as “record-breaking from an internet traffic perspective.”
Long after the players left the field, our team continued to oversee network activity to ensure ongoing stability of all customer operations. Our Major Incident Management ‘playbook’ was crucial, serving as both a guide and a reminder of the need for continuous process evaluation and improvement as we transition from one event to the next.
As the Super Bowl campaign wrapped up, Edward was pleased with the behind-the-scenes connectivity support we provided for our customers. He shared, “The entire Continent 8 team was instrumental in ensuring a flawless Super Bowl experience. This careful, meticulous planning underscored our commitment to delivering a reliable and unparalleled service to our customers, allowing millions of users to place their bets and engage with the event in real time.
“With Super Bowl LIX now concluded, next up for the US sporting market: NCAA March Madness!”
For over 25 years, we have been the leading provider of global managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity solutions for the regulated iGaming and online sports betting industry. To learn more about how our best-in-class managed and professional services can power and protect your gaming platforms and operations, contact sales@continent8.com.