BCLC seeing a Swift surge in Super Bowl bets

Sunday is the biggest game in football — and it’s big business for the BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC).

Matt Lee with the BCLC says players are on track to bet over $2 million on this year’s Super Bowl through PlayNow.com.

Lee says the number of bets made this year is up about 70 per cent from last year — and all that money stays right here in B.C.

“Net income generated by PlayNow goes towards things like health care, education, and community programs,” he said. “You do see illegal sites being played here in British Columbia by other players. And that’s money that doesn’t actually stay in the province…where we’re not even sure where it goes. But at least with PlayNow, you know that the money stays here in British Columbia.”

Lee says betters can put money down on more than a dozen novelty bets like if Travis Kelce will propose to Taylor Swift and who might appear during the Halftime Show.

“There are about 18 or so Taylor Swift-inspired bets available for this year’s Super Bowl — including will Travis Kelce propose to Taylor Swift? That’s among the most popular novelty bets we have available on PlayNow. Players are also betting on things like what colour the liquid will be that gets dumped over the winning coach, as well as the coin toss, and everything covering this year’s halftime show featuring Usher.”

He’s also reminding everyone to use their GameSense, set a spending limit, and play within it.

With files from Cole Schisler.