Penn Entertainment’s ESPN Bet sports betting service could prove to be a winner at the Super Bowl on Sunday — helped by the Taylor Swift effect, according to Bank of America. “While the Big Game is always important for sportsbooks, we think the combination of 1) being played in Las Vegas and 2) the storylines of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are elevating this game to a higher level,” Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley wrote in a report Friday. Swift’s summer concert tour, for example, drove up hotel occupancy rates and helped boost lodging stocks, according to Morgan Stanley, which said a similar effect could happen for viewership and wagers on Sunday’s game now that Taylor is dating Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end. Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Grambling calculates Swift could lead to about a 10% rise in viewership. This could “expand sports engagement and/or betting audience as evident in unique bets outside the U.S.,” Grambling said in a note to clients Friday. Swift’s recent presence at NFL games might be fueling higher ticket prices and expectations for both higher television viewership and wagers, according to Kelley. Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt told CNBC’s “Mad Money” in January that the team’s female audience “has grown leaps and bounds” since Swift began attending Kelce’s games. To capitalize on the enthusiasm, sportsbooks are offering Swift-related bets. These include proposition, or “prop,” bets that aren’t tied to the final score, such as “How many times will Taylor Swift be shown on camera during the telecast of the game?” or “Will the MVP mention Taylor Swift in his speech?” ESPN Bet especially could benefit because, compared with other sports betting platforms, it “may have a higher proportion of female bettors,” Kelley wrote. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
