Superbowl Prop Betting Guide

Today's post features my first Superbowl Prop Betting Guide, enjoy!

Ever since Chicago’s William “the Refrigerator” Perry scored a touchdown against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 20, Superbowl Prop Betting has become synonymous with the big game. This year is no different, as some sportsbooks are offering more than 500 proposition wagers on the Super Bowl.

Some proposition bets, such as the number of yards Marshawn Lynch rushes for, can be determined by how a handicapper analyzes the game and what they see transpiring on the field, but there are plenty of proposition bets where the determining factor is strictly luck of the draw. Proposition betting has become big business for the sportsbooks and most now say that the props account for 30 to 50% of their total handle. When you consider that there will be an estimated $10 billion wagered on the game worldwide, although roughly one-quarter of that is through various office pools, square pools in taverns, etc., that still means several billion will be wagered on whether or not Lynch grabs his crotch after a touchdown, the color of hair dye Katy Perry uses or if the coin flip results in heads or tails.

The most famous proposition bet is simply the coin toss, which has been around for years and at one time was considered the biggest novelty wager around, although that has long-been eclipsed by some of the more off-beat offerings that have come along in recent years. Not only can you bet whether the coin is heads or tails, you can wager which team wins the coin toss, if the team that calls the toss will be correct or if the team that wins the coin toss will win the game.

The National Anthem is another well-known prop bet and this year you can wager if it takes Idina Menzel over or under 2 minutes, 1 second to sing the anthem at -120 either way or if she’ll forget or omit at least one word. The “no” is -700, so somebody believes that she’ll get everything right.

The Super Bowl halftime show has evolved over the years and at one time consisted of the usual performances of marching bands.  Television networks which lost out on the Super Bowl broadcast decided to put on popular entertainment acts during halftime as a way to entice people to switch away from the game. The Super Bowl decided to fight back and in 1991 had New Kids on the Block perform at halftime and have had name performers ever since.

After the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake in 2004, the Super Bowl went with older performers for a while, having the likes of Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen. Tom Petty and The Who. These bands who were popular enough that many sportsbooks would let you wager on which song they would open with or end with. In an effort to placate the younger audience, the Super Bowl returned to more contemporary acts the past few years, which brought an end to wagering on individual songs or the number of times Pete Townsend did the windmill.

This year, you can wager on the color of Perry’s hair, how many times she’s mentioned in the first half and whether she wears pants, shorts or a dress/skirt at the beginning of her performance.

Not to be outdone, you can also wager on the color of the hoodie New England fashion plate Bill Belichick wears and if it will be cut at the sleeves or not.

A number of wagers relate to the television audience, such as will the Nielsen rating be over or under 47.5, will the number of viewers exceed 113 million and will the Seattle region or the Boston region have a higher percentage of people watching the game.

Other wagers offered that have become somewhat commonplace include the color of the Gatorade that will be dumped on the winning coach, what the Dow Jones does the Monday after the game and who the MVP thanks first, with his teammates and God the two most popular choices.

Those who would like to extend their wagers into Monday morning can elect to bet the Super Bowl/Groundhog Day parlay, where you can wager on which team wins the Super Bowl and parlay that to whether or not Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not.

It’s the Super Bowl, so have a little bit of fun and good luck.

My Pick for the Big Game...

2/1/2015 6:30 PM Reduced Football 102 Seattle Seahawks* +1 -110  vs New England Patriots
Risking 2.00 To Win 1.82

Taking the 1 point with Seattle. Ive been watching the line all week and there was a sharp reverse line move last night towards the Seahawks. This indicates some serious Sharp bets were flowing in on Seattle. Especially with all of the public money on the Pats. This isn't an easy game to pick, but I am going to side with the Seahawks and the better defense.

Ill post a few prop bets that I like too closer to game time so be sure to check back around 6PM for some additional Picks.