ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Sports betting is now legal in two-thirds of the country, and more Americans than ever have the opportunity to place a legal bet on Sunday’s Super Bowl.
With sportsbook ads flashing into the ether with come-ons and promotions, things can get a bit confusing, especially for first-time bettors or those who don’t fully understand how things work.
Here is a guide to betting on the big game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. We will only deal here with legal sports betting options that are approved and regulated by government agencies in the United States
WHAT IS A POINT SPREAD? OVER/UNDER WHAT?
Two of the most popular bets relate to the point spread (the number of points a team must win the game by for the bet to win) and the total, also known as over/under (the total number of points). points scored by both teams).
Contrary to popular belief, the point distribution is not a consensus on how many points the odds maker believes a team will win by. Rather, it is a number that aims to generate as equal a number of bets as possible on both sides. In this way, the odds makers are guaranteed a profit by cutting back on the action known as “Vigorish” or “Vig”. (Many books, hoping to sound less wise, call it “the price.”) Most sportsbooks keep 10% or more of a winning bet before paying you the rest, but they keep 100% of any losing bets. Super Bowl betting prices can vary significantly, so it pays to shop around to get the lowest price before placing a bet.
Hitting the spread is called “covering”. In order for the Eagles to cover their 1.5 point spread, they must win the game by 2 or more points. Conversely, underdogs can cover Kansas City by either winning the game outright or losing by less than 2 points. (Odds and scores are as of Friday FanDuel, the official odds provider for The Associated Press.) The spread can change up until kick-off – and even after, during live betting, we’ll get to that later – but the number locks in once you’ve placed a bet.
A spread of an integer, say 2 points, opens up the possibility of a so-called “push” when the winning margin is equal. You won’t win anything, but you’ll get your original stake back. This also applies to other bets, which is why most of them involve a fraction, like 44.5 yards or 48.5 points.
Don’t want to mess with points and just pick the winner? This is called the money limit. A bet on the Eagles winning the game is slightly less profitable than using a point spread, regardless of the score. You must bet $122 of your own money to win $100. (Of course, you get your original $122 back as part of the $222 payout.) However, a moneyline bet on Kansas City wins $104 on a $100 bet, for a total payout of $204.
If you think the game will be a high-scoring affair, you might want to bet on the current total of 50.5 points. This means if you bet on over, both teams must score at least 51 points combined for your bet to win. If this is not the case, those who bet on the bottom win.
CAN I MAKE MY OWN ODDS?
Yes. But that can get expensive. You can choose your own spread or total – an alternative – to improve your chances of winning, but the further your choice deviates from the sportsbook number, the less it pays out if you win. (You can also choose a harder number for a higher potential payout, such as betting on the Chiefs winning by 20 points, but that’s a very risky strategy.) So if you only want to bet on Kansas City the points distribution, but you want to get more points than the 1.5 currently offered, you can bet on an alternative distribution such as B. Kansas City with 3.5 points. This is useful when you think a 3-point field goal could decide the game and you want extra cushion. But because you have better odds for yourself, the bet is more expensive: you have to wager $166 of your own money to win $100 in this case. Additional bets may be pinned as part of so-called same-game parlays, which are combinations of bets on the same game. But the more combo outcomes you bet, the greater the chance that at least one of them will lose and your entire combo will burst into flames.
WHAT ELSE CAN I BET ON?
If that sounds like a lot to do, there are much easier ways to bet on the match, including some that cater to the casual fan or even someone who knows nothing about football at all. A perennial favorite is betting on the coin toss early in the game to determine which team can get the ball first. There are only two choices: heads or tails. You can even bet on which color of Gatorade the winning trainer will be bathed in at the end of the game. Seriously.
This is known as a proposition or “prop” bet. It involves betting on whether or not a certain event will take place during the game and there is a wide range to choose from. They can be disarmingly simple, like guessing which team will get the ball first, whether the first goal of the game will be a touchdown or a field goal, and whether or not the game will go into overtime.
Prop bets based on a specific player’s performance are always popular during the Super Bowl. You can bet on whether Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will pass over or under 294.5 yards, how many catches his favorite target, tight end Travis Kelce, will have (over or under 7.5), or how many touchdown passes the Eagles quarterback will pass Jalen Hurts will throw.
CAN I BET WHILE THE GAME IS PLAYED?
Individuals with online sports betting accounts can bet on ever-changing outcome odds as the game is played; Live betting is the fastest growing segment of sports betting. For example, the game starts with a 1.5-point lead for the Eagles, but let’s say Kansas City scores two quick touchdowns to take a 14-0 lead. The in-game odds are changing to reflect the current situation and you can now bet on whether Kansas City will win by 14 points or the Eagles will lose by less than that. Or let’s say Kelce, the Chiefs’ top receiving weapon, is shut down by Eagles defenses and he seems unlikely to eclipse his pregame receiving yards total of 79.5 yards. Bettors can bet on whether or not he will eclipse a lower number.
A word of caution: the number of these in-game bets and the speed with which the odds change can be dangerous for those with a gambling problem, and many pundits fear it could trick even a casual gambler into having a problem become. Some good advice: Set a budget in advance that you can afford to lose and stick to it. Consider betting on the game as a form of entertainment and not a way to make money you need. When things are headed south, don’t make extra bets to try and win back what you’ve lost. This is one of the quickest ways for players to dig a deep hole.
WHAT IF I MAY HAVE A GAMING PROBLEM?
Betting on the Super Bowl is supposed to be fun, and for most people it is. But for others, gambling addiction is a serious problem. Call 800-GAMBLER for assistance.
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Follow Wayne Parry at https://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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AP Super Bowl coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/super-bowl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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