Online bets on NFL games surged in Week 1 as legal sports betting continues to grow

abcnews.go.com:

Here's more proof of how fast legal sports betting is spreading in the U.S. A company that most of the industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are reports a record number of transactions over the first weekend of the NFL season

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A company that most of the legal U.S. sports betting industry uses to verify that its customers are where they say they are is reporting a record number of transactions over the first weekend of the NFL season.

GeoComply Solutions, the Vancouver, Canada-based tech company, said Wednesday it recorded 242.3 million geolocation transactions from customers of legal U.S. sportsbooks, representing a 56% increase from the same time period in 2022.

The data records the amount of times the company was called on to verify a customer’s location. It is considered a good indicator for at least a minimum level of sports betting activity, more than 80% of which is done online in the U.S.

The company also said over 1.1 million new player accounts were created in the first week of this year's NFL season, an increase of over 40% from the same period a year ago.

Legal sports betting is operational in 35 states plus Washington, D.C., up from 31 at the start of last year's season. Three additional states have approved it but not yet launched, according to the American Gaming Association, the gambling industry's national trade group.

“Consumer awareness around the security and fairness of legal online betting platforms has played a pivotal role in the responsible growth of the industry," said GeoComply co-founder and CEO Anna Sainsbury.

She said the report indicates a high level of demand for sports betting in states that have not yet legalized it, including six states