Morning Report: Super Bowl betting breaks records and housing costs impact Valentine’s Day

This year’s Super Bowl betting set records for Sportsbooks. Similar betting services reported impressive numbers as well this year. FanDuel said that at their peak, they were taking fifty-thousand bets per second. DraftKings paid out nearly three-million dollars to one bettor on the Chief’s win. This was also the first time that the Super Bowl was held in a state where sports betting is legal.

A new survey finds that that housing costs are impacting romantic decisions, including Valentine’s Day expenses. Realtor.com and HarrisX found that sixty-three percent of people who recently moved in with a romantic partner said that finances and logistics impacted their decisions. They also found that these factors influenced younger respondents more than Gen X or Baby Boomers.

According to a new survey by Yellow Octopus, forty-three percent of couples have decided to skip gifts this Valentine’s Day. Respondents cited inflation as the cause. However, the study found that sixty-one percent of respondents who stated that they will not purchase a Valentine’s gift also said that they would break up if their partner does not buy a gift for them. Even searches for “valentine’s day gifts” are down by fifty-six percent this year.

The U.S. is government buying another 1.5 million doses of Novavax Covid vaccine. Unlike the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, the Novavax vaccine is a more traditional form of immunization, containing inert fragments of the virus meant to help develop an immune response.