Americans expected to bet nearly $8 billion on Super Bowl LVI
CBSN
Are you ready for some gambling? Americans are expected to smash records this year by betting nearly $8 billion on Super Bowl LVI, according to the American Gaming Association.
Those numbers, which include both online and in-person wagers, are up sharply from the previous high of $4.3 billion last year, highlighting the growing sports betting industry as more states legalize the activity. More than 31 million Americans plan to put some money on the Super Bowl, up 35% from last year's game.
The gaming group's estimate includes both legal and unauthorized wagers, such as office pools. Counting legal bets alone, sports gambling data company PlayUSA estimates that online and in-person Super Bowl wagers this year will total $1 billion, more than double the estimated amount of legal bets for Super Bowl LV.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.