With the Super Bowl coming up this Sunday, I found this article on illegal betting from the Phoenix Business Journal to be very interesting.  Only four states in the U.S. actually allow sports betting – Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware.  This means that Americans will place approximately $3.8 billion in illegal bets on the Super Bowl this year – significantly more than the nearly $100 million in legal bets placed on the game each year, according to the American Gaming Association.

The NFL has had a long-time stance against gambling on NFL games.  But gambling these days encompasses far more than just the spread or even the over/unders.  Examples of what bettors can take a gamble on include whether Bill Belichick’s hoodie will be blue, red or grey and who will be shown more on TV during the game, Patriots owner Robert Kraft or Seahawks owner Paul Allen.

According to Las Vegas odds makers, the New England Patriots are favored to beat the Seattle Seahawks by two points in Super Bowl XLIX on February 1.

You can read more here – http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/business/2015/01/3-8b-worth-of-illegal-bets-expected-for-super.html.