Super Bowl Prop Betting
by Lenny Del Genio
We’re still more than a week away from Super Bowl 46, but there’s already excitement in
sports betting circles as the Propositional Wagers, often referred to as Prop Bets, have been released for the big game.
For those sports bettors who may be unfamiliar with prop betting on the Super Bowl, or in general, allow me to clarify. Prop bets allow you to wager on outcomes and situations beyond just the typical pointspread and how many total points will be scored.
Some of the most popular prop bets involve which player will win the MVP award (Tom Brady is the favorite at 13/10 odds), what the highest scoring quarter will be (2nd quarter is +170), how many total touchdowns will be scored in the game (current odds at 6.5) and how many passing yards Eli Manning will have (currently 315.5).
Of course, Super Bowl prop bets can also range from the comical to the absurd. For instance, you can wager on whether or not the opening coin toss will come up heads or tails. How about whether or not Kelly Clarkson will omit a word from the National Anthem (Yes is +250)? Do you like watching the halftime show? If so, you can bet on what color Madonna’s hair will be at the start of her performance. Any color besides blonde will return you +250 odds. Even after the game is over, you can still win money by betting on what color the Gatorade will be that’s dumped on the winning coach!
If you are interested in any of those props in the above paragraph, you can check them out for yourself at Bovada, where they are currently offering a Free $100 bet for the Super Bowl. My work is done in that department as you are on your own. There’s no pertinent information I can offer to help you handicap the theatre of the absurd.
However, for now, I want to look at the “more serious” prop wagers. The popularity of Super Bowl prop betting dates back 25 years to Super Bowl XX when the Bears met the Patriots. At the time, William "Refrigerator" Perry was all the rage and there was a lot of talk on whether or not the Bears big man would score a TD in the game. During the course of the regular season, the Monsters of the Midway had given the ball to 'the Fridge' in several short yardage, goal line situations with success. Capitalizing on this phenomenon, many Vegas sportsbooks put a wager up on the board (at 40/1 odds) that allowed the public to wager on whether or not the Fridge would cross the goal line in Super Bowl XX. By kickoff, the odds had incredibly dropped to 2/1 odds as the public decided 'what the hell' and got down on Perry. Of course, as we all know now, Perry did score and the books got busted big. As an aside, I thought it was a shameless decision by HC Ditka to hand the ball to Perry rather than Hall of Fame RB Walter Payton, who played his entire career in Chicago and was making his only Super Bowl appearance. Sounds to me like old "Iron Mike" may have gotten down at 40:1 odds! It should be noted that Ditka has since apologized many times for not giving Payton the ball.
By the way, that game was probably the perfect time to introduce prop bets. At the time, it was the most lopsided Super Bowl in history with the Bears crushing the Pats 46-10 for the franchise's only Super Bowl win.
When I wrote this article last season, I gave away two free prop bets. Both cashed. I will be personally wagering on both again this year. One of them will be included with my
25* Playoff Total of the Year (which will be available at Vegas Experts this weekend). Here is the other.
Will there be a special teams or defensive touchdown scored in the game? Yes +145 | No -175
The key to prop betting, as far as I’m concerned, is to find value or ‘plus money.’ This is great value at +145 odds for there to be a non-offensive touchdown scored in Super Bowl 46. Last year saw Nick Collins return a Ben Roethlisberger interception 37 yards for a touchdown. Four of the last five Super Bowls have now seen a non-offensive TD scored. The Patriots led the AFC in takeaways at 34 while the Giants weren’t far behind with 31, which were tied for fourth in the NFC.
Bet Yes +145
Get winning Super Bowl Picks from former oddsmaker Lenny Del Genio at Vegas Experts.
