Initial Report: Vegas, Reno, Online Had Killer Super Bowl

Based on preliminary numbers, the online gambling sites should have been way up over last year's Super Bowl numbers.

"In terms of overall traffic we were up significantly," says Payton O'Brien of Gambling911.com.  Numbers were still being added up.  "It looks as if our numbers were up a whopping 20 percent despite stiff competition."

Gambling911.com dominated key Super Bowl betting search rankings in Google with supplemental traffic coming in from Bing.com.

For a while, Gambling911.com sat atop Google for the terms "Super Bowl 2010", "Super Bowl 2010 Prop Bets", "Super Bowl 2010 Spread" and "Super Bowl Odds 2010".

Throughout much of the day the site recorded 100 Super Bowl betting search inquires per every 2 to 3 minutes.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has estimated 278-thousand football fans paid a visit to Sin City this past weekend, up nearly 14-percent from last year's Super Bowl weekend.   Those numbers were expected to boost the amount of betting volume over last year's $81.5 million, though probably nowhere near the record $94.5 million taken in during the 2006 Super Bowl Weekend.

Reno sportsbooks were reporting brisk business.

"The handle was comparable to last year, and I know we had more people there," Terry Cox, director of the race and sports book at the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino, told the Reno Gazette.

"It was a good day," he said. "We were very busy, had full parties and full hotels, and the casino was still busy tonight. Anymore, when you do as well as a year ago, that's the new good."

The Colts closed as 4-point favorites and got up to 10 early in the game and then 7 points on the Saints later. The total closed at 57 and got into the low 40s.

Bookmakers made out especially well with the total betting as nearly 80 percent were on the OVER at one point.