Fewer Louisianans appeared to place bets on Super Bowl LVII than the previous year, Louisiana Gaming Control Board Chairman Ronnie Johns said Thursday, and Joe Burrow or the novelty of sports betting might be part of the reason.

The board received a general look at how the state’s authorized sportsbooks performed in February during its meeting Wednesday, though the full reports have not been released on the board’s website. Donna Jackson, the board’s audit supervisor, said the mobile sportsbooks brought in around $17.7 million in February, while the brick-and-mortar locations added around $1.5 million in net revenue.

U.S. Navy naming new nuclear submarine after Louisiana native

“It appears…that our Super Bowl numbers were significantly down from last year,” Johns said during the meeting. “Maybe that’s because Joe Burrow wasn’t in the Super Bowl, or maybe the newness of sports betting back in 2022. I don’t know the reason, but it appears that the number of wagers placed for the Super Bowl was down from the previous year, even though the numbers were good.”

The data for the number of wagers written for February 2023 are not yet available, so it’s difficult to gauge if there was less interest in betting on this year’s game. Last year, there were around 27.4 million wagers written in February for retail sportsbooks and around 211 million on mobile apps.

Anecdotally, there does seem to be a case for this year’s Super Bowl being less interesting to the sports betting world. Notably, Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale – the owner of the Houston Gallery Furniture store and one Louisiana’s most prominent sports betting patrons – did not place a wager on the game, an ESPN gambling reporter tweeted.

But in terms of profit, the sportsbooks likely aren’t complaining. The mobile apps’ $17.7 million in net revenue was an increase of around $1 million or 6.3% from February 2022. The retail sportsbooks doubled their net revenue from February 2022, rising by nearly $860,000.

Moving forward, March has historically been a big month for states with legalized sports betting, particularly with March Madness being in full swing. In March 2022, Louisiana’s mobile and retail sportsbooks had more than 233.1 million combined wagers, which was the fifth-highest monthly total in 2022.

Are you ready for a disaster? Nearly half of Louisiana residents may be 'survivalists'

The mobile and retail sportsbooks combined for around $30.1 million in net revenue in March 2022 – the fourth-best month last year.

McIngvale is also back in the game for March Madness, putting more than $4 million on the No. 1-seed Houston Cougars to win it all.

CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TODAY: Help support journalists like William Taylor Potter

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana gambling board says wagers fell for Super Bowl LVII