Thanksgiving Is Now the Super Bowl of Sports Betting — And the Numbers Prove It

For decades, Thanksgiving has been America’s holiday of family, food, and football. But in 2024 and 2025, something fundamental shifted: Thanksgiving is no longer just a cultural moment — it has become the single biggest non–Super Bowl week in the U.S. sports betting economy.

What used to be a three-game NFL showcase has transformed into a national betting event driven by synchronized viewing, aggressive operator innovation, and the rise of holiday Same-Game Parlays (SGPs). The data is now undeniable: Thanksgiving weekend is the new center of gravity in U.S. sports wagering.

And if the trends continue, Thanksgiving could soon rival the Super Bowl itself in total handle — not in one night, but in aggregate wagering across four days of nonstop action.

Thanksgiving Week Is Now a National Betting Surge And the Numbers Show It

Recent national surveys show that 41 million Americans placed legal sports bets during Thanksgiving week last year — the highest number ever recorded outside of the Super Bowl.

But what’s more telling is the quality of engagement:

NFL Thanksgiving Day games produced 30% more in-game bets than any other regular-season week. Live betting spikes by 38%–52% during nationally televised holiday games due to captive audiences. FanDuel and DraftKings saw a 40% year-over-year increase in Thanksgiving SGP volume — the most dramatic single-week jump of the NFL season. This is not a temporary blip. This is a structural shift in how Americans engage with sports, entertainment, and digital wagering during the holidays.

Why Thanksgiving Has Become Betting’s Perfect Storm

Three converging dynamics have turned Thanksgiving into a wagering super-event:

1. The entire country watches the NFL at the exact same time Thanksgiving is the only day on the U.S. calendar when: every household is home, every TV is on, and every game is nationally broadcast. This creates a level of synchronized attention even the NFL rarely reaches. No regional blackout. No split markets. No competing broadcasts. For sportsbooks, this is gold. Synchronized viewing = synchronized in-game betting surges. And with three NFL games — plus the new Amazon Black Friday game — the holiday provides nearly 12 straight hours of real-time betting opportunity.

2. Family gatherings create the perfect environment for SGPs SGPs thrive on groups: shared rooting interest, friendly competition, casual bettors building $5 and $10 holiday parlays. Thanksgiving introduces a rare psychological accelerant: people bet more when they’re watching sports together. It’s the same phenomenon seen during March Madness brackets — but amplified, because the entire country is already in front of the TV. Operators have leaned into this with: boosted odds, holiday-only SGP templates, profit boosts tied to rivalry matchups, “family parlay” promos targeting group play. The result? Thanksgiving is now the #1 SGP day of the year, even surpassing most playoff weekends.

3. New state launches turn Thanksgiving into a national handle accelerator
Each year, more states go live right before or during football season — which means Thanksgiving becomes a “first big betting holiday” for millions of new users. Recent states to launch or expand mobile betting have seen: record sign-ups on Thanksgiving week, exceptionally high retention, and the highest promo redemption rates of the season. Thanksgiving acts like a national on-ramp for new bettors to enter the ecosystem. This is why operators now treat the holiday as a strategic acquisition window — second only to the NFL season opener.

Betting Psychology: Why Thanksgiving Drives Irrational Volume
Beyond the numbers, Thanksgiving taps into deeper behavioral forces that make bettors more engaged, more impulsive, and more emotionally invested: • Nostalgia betting People bet on the Lions and Cowboys simply because it’s tradition — even when logic says otherwise. • Group influence More people bet when surrounded by friends and family who are also betting. • Holiday euphoria Relaxation + food + celebration = higher risk tolerance and more SGP creativity. • “Entertainment justification” On holidays, people justify bets as part of the shared entertainment budget. These psychological drivers turn Thanksgiving into a rare moment where sports betting becomes a cultural activity, not just a financial one.

Thanksgiving Weekend Handle Is Now Larger Than the Entire NBA Christmas Slate
The growth of Thanksgiving weekend handle has also eclipsed Christmas sports viewership and wagering, including: NBA Christmas Day games College football bowl warmups Boxing Day international soccer NHL winter matchups Thanksgiving has become the crown jewel of Q4 sports, and the betting economy reflects it.

Amazon’s Black Friday Game: The New Force Multiplierbr
The NFL’s move to add an Amazon-exclusive Black Friday NFL game is proving to be one of the most impactful schedule innovations in league history. Last year’s Black Friday game delivered: 11M+ viewers, 35% spike in in-game bets, record-high mobile betting engagement for a non-Sunday game. Black Friday is the new frontier where commerce meets wagering, and it further cements Thanksgiving weekend as the industry’s second Super Bowl.

Looking Forward: Thanksgiving Could Eclipse Every Other Betting Weekend by 2027
Based on current trends — SGP adoption, same-day payouts, micro-betting growth, and new state launches — Thanksgiving is on pace to become the highest total four-day betting window in U.S. history, outside of the Super Bowl. And unlike the Super Bowl, Thanksgiving spreads its handle across: four days, multiple sports, three NFL games, one standalone marquee NFL broadcast on Friday, rivalry week college football, NBA and NHL holiday slates. The diversity of offerings means broader participation, higher cross-sport parlays, and significantly more engagement than any single-day event can generate.

Conclusion: The Commercialization of American Holidays Is Reshaping U.S. Betting Culture
Thanksgiving has evolved from a cultural holiday into a nationwide sports-betting ritual — one that blends entertainment, family bonding, tradition, and real-time digital wagering. This shift isn’t an accident. It’s the result of: synchronized national viewership, rapid expansion of mobile betting, the rise of SGPs, and operators designing holiday-specific betting ecosystems. The Super Bowl will always be the single largest handle day of the year — but Thanksgiving has become the biggest betting week, and the clearest sign that sports wagering is no longer a niche industry. It is now part of the American holiday experience.