Sportsbook

Most of the United States sportsbooks are located in Nevada. In 1949, Nevada allowed bookmakers to accept bets on horse racing and professional sports. The first Nevada sportsbooks were called Turf Clubs. They were independent from the casinos and had an informal agreement with the hotels that they would stay out of the casino business as long as the hotels stayed out of the sportsbook business. The sportsbooks had to pay a 10 percent tax so they charged a high vigorish to gamblers, but they still brought enough business to make a profit. In 1974 the tax was lowered to 2 percent, The Super Bowl is the most popular event for the Nevada sportsbooks. They earned $7.2 million on the $99 million wagered on it in 2013. Because it attracts many unsophisticated bettors, , the books had made money on 21 of the previous 23 Super Bowls, with an average win of $5.5 million over the previous ten years. The most profitable Super Bowl was in 2005, when the Philadelphia Eagles covered the spread against the favored New England Patriots, earning the books $15.4 million. The two losses were in 1995—when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers—and 2008—when the favored Patriots lost to the New York Giants, costing the books $2.5 million. ==Delaware==