Parlays boosted sportsbook margins; Kalshi faced outages amid 20-fold volume spike
Americans wagered a record $1.76 billion on the Super Bowl, according to American Gaming Association projections, as a wave of first-time bettors and an explosion in parlay activity delivered a windfall for the sports-betting industry — and growing pains for one of its newest entrants.
On Kalshi, the event-contract trading platform, volume on the Super Bowl question alone topped $500 million, roughly 20 times the level seen a year earlier. Payment processor Paysafe reported a 42% jump in betting volumes in the lead-up to the game, with a survey showing 31% of bettors planned to place their first-ever sports wager on this Super Bowl.
Parlays Power Sportsbook Upside
Much of the industry's outperformance was driven by same-game parlays — combined bets that require every leg to hit for a payout. A defensive first half that saw the Patriots held scoreless heading into the break, with all points coming from field goals, proved devastating for bettors who had built those outcomes into multi-leg wagers. Total yardage in the contest came in at just 666 — well below the thresholds many bettors had stacked into their parlays.
"Anything less than 700 yards is fantastic for the sports[books] because it blows up the customers' parlays," one industry observer noted. According to data from Juice Reel, which tracks user activity across connected sportsbook accounts, 37% of all bets placed on the game were parlays.
Fanatics Sportsbook said same-game parlays "materially outperformed expectations," contributing to what the company described as a record number of app downloads ahead of kickoff. The company credited a surge in new sign-ups to its advertising campaign featuring Kendall Jenner, noting that Jenner placed her bet on the Fanatics sportsbook in New York, while other members of the Kardashian family used the Fanatics Predictions product in California, where traditional sports betting remains prohibited.
Implications for Earnings Season
The parlay-driven outperformance is expected to have a material impact on industry financials. DraftKings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jason Robbins, speaking ahead of the game while in a quiet period, declined to discuss volumes but appeared optimistic about results heading into the company's earnings report this week. Analysts will be watching for commentary on the current quarter to gauge whether the Super Bowl momentum is translating into sustained engagement.
The favorite, Seattle, covered the spread — typically a mixed outcome for sportsbooks on straight bets, where money-line bettors on the Seahawks collected. But the parlay math more than offset those payouts, industry participants said.
Kalshi Hit by Outages
The surge in activity was not without disruption. Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated event-contract exchange, experienced significant technical difficulties during the game, with DownDetector logging a spike in user complaints. Co-founder Tarek Mansour acknowledged the issues publicly, posting on social media that the platform was struggling with unprecedented traffic.
"We're having some problems with the volume coming in," Mansour wrote. "Don't worry, your money's safe." The company later confirmed that deposits had been delayed but that no funds were at risk.
The outages underscore the operational challenges facing newer platforms as they scale to meet surging demand in what has become one of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. financial-services landscape.
