The Super Bowl is sure to be one of the biggest betting events of 2017 and NFL fans are by no means restricted to betting on traditional lines like outright winner, point spread and points total. In the buildup to the big game the leading bookmakers compete to offer the weirdest and most wonderful prop bets (special bets) to make headlines and win business. Getting involved can be great fun, but also a good way to waste your money, so here we have rounded up the good, the bad and the crazy from this year’s prop bets:
The Good
The obvious bets are outright winner (the New England Patriots should win it), point spread (the Atlanta Falcons might sneak this as it is forecast to be close) and points totals (under 58.5 looks good thanks to the strength of the Pats’ defence). But a really important prop bet can be added to that mix: Super Bowl MVP. In the last 15 years a quarterback has won it nine times, a wide receiver three times, a wide receiver twice and a safety once. Chances are it will be won by a quarterback again and that pits Tom Brady against Matt Ryan. History is in Brady’s favour as he has already won Super Bowl MVP three times and is a big game player. Matt Ryan is the hottest QB in the league right now, but that might not be enough to stop Brady. He is odds-on favourite at 10/11 with Paddy Power, while Ryan is 15/8 with Sky Bet.
One spanner in the works could be Julio Jones, Atlanta’s beast of a receiver, who looks interesting at 16/1 with William Hill and Bet365. He also looks a good option at 8/1 to score the first touchdown. Another good prop bet is half-time/full-time. If you fancy the Patriots to dominate, you can get 11/8 with Ladbrokes on them winning half-time/full-time, better than the 4/6 available on them winning outright. The 8/9 on New England winning more turnovers looks great too. LaGarette Blount at 4/1 for most rushing yards looks an interesting bet as the Pats will try to grind the Falcons down, and he is another good bet for first touchdown at 8/1 with Bet365.
The Bad
You can get 18/1 on the winner successfully defending the Super Bowl next season, but Brady is ageing and the Falcons probably won’t reach the big game again, so this looks best avoided. The 5/2 on a kicker missing an extra point looks a terrible idea. The 66/1 on someone achieving a Hail Mary looks tempting, but again best avoided, as is the 4/1 on a defensive touchdown being given away and the 13/1 on a kick return touchdown as these defences are too good for that.
The Crazy
Here we go. This year you can bet on: the primary colour of Joe Buck’s tie, the pattern of his tie, the extent of his facial hair, the amount of times Robert Kraft is shown on TV, the likelihood of a halftime sound malfunction, a wardrobe malfunction, Lady Gaga’s outfit, her hair colour and song choice, the visibility of her belly button, someone catching fire at the halftime show, how long the national anthem will take, Gaga getting booed, who will air the first commercial, who will win best commercial, anti-Trump speeches being made, whether a snake will make an appearance and many, many more. Most are fun if you’re only throwing small change on them, but two that could be interesting are: going over the over/under weight (249.5 lbs) of the heaviest player to score a touchdown as Blount is over, and the 7/4 on the first mention of Deflategate being in the first quarter.
Betfair:
Bet on Henrik Stenson to become the BMW PGA Championship Winner.
Paddypower:
Back Australia to take the Ashes home with them.
Betway:
Back Rafael Nadal to become the Mens French Open Winner.
Coral:
Back One For Arthur to win the Grand National.
Bet365:
Back Mexico to win the Confederations Cup.
