Who is Jerry Rice’s pick for Super Bowl LX? (0:39)Jerry Rice explains to Rich Eisen why he’s siding with the Seahawks over the Patriots in the Super Bowl. (0:39)
Feb. 5: Bettor places $1,000 MVP wagers on Super Bowl kickers
Feb. 4: Tracking the largest bets on Super Bowl LX so far
Feb. 3: Blue, orange the favorites in Gatorade dump markets
Feb. 2: Seahawks’ Shaheed the favorite to be fastest in Super Bowl
Jan 31. Sportsbooks resist moving Super Bowl line despite heavy Seahawks action
Jan. 29: Smith-Njigba most popular player in early Super Bowl betting
Jan. 28: Mattress Mack makes $2 million bet on Super Bowl LX winner
Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a sports betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the sports news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our Super Bowl betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation leading up to the big game.
Roughly 24 hours before the kickoff of Super Bowl LX, the bulk of the action continues to be on the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle was holding as a 4.5-point favorite over the New England Patriots on Saturday and attracting most of the big bets. Tom Gable, sportsbook director at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, said there had been approximately three times as many $10,000-or-larger bets on the Seahawks as on the underdog Patriots.
The story was the same at the South Point in Las Vegas, Hard Rock Bet and Caesars Sportsbook, which reported taking a $152,000 money-line bet on the Seahawks (-230) on Saturday morning. Hard Rock Bet reported taking a $250,000 money-line bet on Seattle (-230) on Saturday afternoon. At the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, 70% of the money bet on the Super Bowl point spread was on Seattle.
Caesars Sportsbook said it had taken some bets on the Patriots, including a $75,000 bet and a $50,000 bet on New England +4.5 on Saturday. Even with those bets, the Seahawks had attracted nearly 70% of the money that had been bet on the game’s point spread.
Jamey Pileggi, head NFL oddsmaker for Circa, said he’s expecting the action to pick up tonight and tomorrow leading up to kickoff, but right now, the best-case scenario for the sportsbook is the Seahawks winning, but not covering the spread.
The Super Bowl can make bettors do strange things, such as wagering big bucks on a kicker to win MVP.
On Feb. 1, a bettor in New Jersey with sportsbook BetRivers placed a pair of $1,000 MVP bets on each of the starting kickers in Sunday’s game:
A spokesperson for BetRivers said the sportsbook had taken only a handful of MVP bets on the kickers, “although several of them are relatively large.” No kicker has ever been named MVP of the Super Bowl.
DraftKings also reported taking a $1,000 MVP bet on Myers at 100-1 and a $500 bet on Borregales at 200-1.
Joey Feazel, head of football trading for Caesars Sportsbook, said there has been interest on Borregales at his shop.
“Longer odds, that’s really what a lot of bettors are trying to find during the Super Bowl, something that’s not the greatest probability, but it has a decent price,” Feazel said.
Quarterbacks have been named MVP in 34 of 59 Super Bowls, including five of the last six. Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold is the MVP favorite in Super Bowl LX, listed at +115 on Thursday at DraftKings Sportsbook, followed by Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at +240.
Wide receivers have won eight MVPs, followed by running backs with seven. Ten defensive players have won the award: four linebackers, two defensive ends, two safeties, one safety and one defensive tackle.
Among the thousands of Super Bowl props on the board, the most popular one with bettors will be determined by a flick of the thumb before the game even kicks off. At BetMGM sportsbooks, more bets have been placed on the result of the pregame coin flip than on any individual player prop on the board.
Before the season, a retail bettor at BetMGM in Nevada placed three $50,000 futures wagers on the Seahawks, two of which — to make the playoffs (+185) and to win the NFC (+2800) — have already cashed to the tune of approximately $1.5 million combined.
With the last $50,000 riding on Seattle to win the Super Bowl at 60-1, the same bettor has placed a $725,000 bet on the Patriots to win Sunday’s game at +190 money line odds, BetMGM confirmed to ESPN. Should the Seahawks win, the bettor will net $2,275,000, but if the Pats win, the bettor will net “only” $1,327,500 on the wagers with BetMGM.
The same bettor also placed large bets on the Seahawks in the preseason at sportsbook Circa, according to a source. — Doug Greenberg
The consensus Super Bowl point spread is holding steady at Seattle -4.5 at all but a few sportsbooks, with the Seahawks attracting the majority of the action on the spread. As of Wednesday at DraftKings, approximately 64% of the bets — and 70% of all money that had been wagered — was on Seattle.
“Early action was mostly on Seattle,” Tom Gable, sportsbook director at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, told ESPN. “We opened [Seahawks] -4, touched -5, but settled in at -4.5 and haven’t moved since. If New England keeps it within the number, as of now, that would be a good outcome. New England winning outright even better. But a lot of handle still to come.” — Purdum
Since the summer, bettors have been speculating on the result of this game, and the wagers will finally settle on Feb. 8. Here are some of the largest bets — by odds, stakes and potential winnings — tracked thus far:
Of the thousands of prop bets offered on the Super Bowl each year, the color of Gatorade poured on the winning head coach is one of the big game’s most enduring novelties.
At DraftKings, blue and orange are the current odds leaders at +250, with yellow/lime or green close behind at +260. Purple (+700), red/pink (+950) and water/clear (+1100) round out the available options.
A representative from BetMGM told ESPN that the Gatorade prop is currently the 23rd-most-bet market for the Super Bowl thus far but that they “expect it will continue to grow,” given it has not been available as long as many of the other prop markets.
In the early betting, yellow/lime or green has been the clear public preference; both BetMGM and DraftKings report their largest shares of bets and handle backing the flavor, maxing out with 28.1% of the money at the former. Blue has also been a popular choice, with a leading 29% of tickets at theScore Bet, as well as the second-most bets and handle at BetMGM. Purple and orange have also seen their fair share of action across the sportsbook marketplace.
The three most recent Super Bowls saw the Philadelphia Eagles use yellow on Nick Sirianni, while the Kansas City Chiefs dumped purple on Andy Reid for both of their Super Bowl wins.
When the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII, they used orange Gatorade. The New England Patriots have varied between blue and clear throughout their six Super Bowl wins, with blue being the winning color for their victory in Super Bowl LIII. These were, of course, under different coaching regimes, if that matters.
Since 2001, orange has been the most frequently used color, getting the dump five times. All of the other colors are tied at four except for red/pink, which has never been used, according to data from BetMGM.
Among more than 1,500 betting markets, DraftKings is offering odds on the top speed a ball carrier will reach during Super Bowl LX.
Seattle Seahawks receiver/kick returner Rashid Shaheed, at +200, is the betting favorite to reach the highest speed of any ball carrier in Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, a wager that will be determined by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats.
Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is next at +270, followed by Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III at +400. New England quarterback Drake Maye has the shortest odds of any Patriot, at +450
DraftKings has the over/under on Shaheed’s top speed set at 19.5 mph. He reached a top speed of 21.72 mph this season, while he was with the New Orleans Saints, before his trade to the Seahawks. He has gone over 19.5 on carries in both of Seattle’s playoff games this season but has had only seven possible plays in both playoff games.
The over/under on Maye’s top speed is 18.5 mph. He has exceeded that speed in all three playoff games.
Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson was one of six ball carriers to reach 22 mph during a game this season. Henderson topped out at 22.01 mph during a Week 10 game. He is 10-1 to have the fastest carry in the Super Bowl, but the rookie running back’s touches have been limited in the playoffs.
After a week of betting, the point spread on Super Bowl LX was holding steady Saturday, with the Seattle Seahawks remaining consensus 4.5-point favorites over the New England Patriots.
Sportsbooks have been reporting early lopsided action on the Seahawks to cover the spread. As of Saturday, 75% of the money that had been bet on the Super Bowl spread with DraftKings was on Seattle. In addition, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who is battling a sore shoulder, missed Friday’s practice with an illness.
Despite the early action on the Seahawks and Maye’s ailments, most sportsbooks were holding the line at 4.5.
“At this point, it would require significant additional action on Seattle -4.5, or a meaningful update to Drake Maye’s injury status, for us to consider a move,” Neil Walsh, senior vice president for Hard Rock Bet, told ESPN. “We do not anticipate either occurring for the next few days.”
Jamey Pileggi, head NFL oddsmaker for Circa Sports, said it would take a “six- or seven-figure” bet on the Seahawks at -4.5 to push the line up to -5.
Two Las Vegas sportsbooks — the South Point and the Westgate SuperBook — had bumped the line up to -5 in recent days.
Chris Andrews, the South Point’s veteran sportsbook director, made the adjustment to Seahawks -5 on Thursday, saying that he’d rather be the first sportsbook to make the move than the last. Since making the move to -5, Andrews said the action has been extremely balanced.