NEW ORLEANS — Place your bets.
Online sports wagering is now live in Louisiana.
With cellphones and computers at the ready, gamblers were excited to log on to their sportsbook apps to put some money down on Friday, the first day for mobile betting in the state.
Jaylen Rougeau runs a sports memorabilia shop in Houma.
“I put a bet out on the Bengals-Chief’s game this Sunday, the AFC Championship Game,” Rougeau said. “I bet the spread which is 3-and-a-half.”
According to Caesars Sportsbook, more than half of the customers who placed wagers in the site in Louisiana, bet on the Bengals with 74 percent of the tickets and 68 percent of the money on Cincinnati to win over Kansas City.
“You’ve got Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, that’s really exciting, the LSU connection right there,” Rougeau said.
More than $67 million in wagers were made at Louisiana's onsite sportsbooks during November and December.
Samir Mowad at Caesars Harrah’s New Orleans says online betting should increase those numbers exponentially.
“Of course, the money that we’re seeing in the brick and mortar, the in-person sportsbook, we definitely believe that’s the tip of the iceberg,” Mowad said. “There’s a lot of folks that don’t want to get out and come down and do it, but they’ll do it from their homes.”
“It’s kind of the easiest way for me,” Rougeau said. “I’m a little ways from any casino outlet.”
The State Police Gaming Division was not able to report in real-time, the number of wagers made online on Friday.
Caesars was also reluctant to divulge its traffic, but said the response so far has been great and they expect it to continue through the weekend.
According to Caesars Sportsbook, Friday night’s Pelicans’ game is the third-most-popular bet in the state behind the NFL conference championship games.
Twenty percent of Louisiana customers on the app, wagered on the Pels vs. Denver Nuggets game.