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Sunday brings what has been deemed the biggest sports betting day of the year — which is such a huge deal that some legislators in Tennessee think the day after should be declared a government holiday for everyone to recover.
Not everyone is necessarily excited about Sunday’s super-duper contest, in which the Philadelphia Eagles are a 1.5-point favorite over the Kansas City Chiefs at most sportsbooks. Even with two exciting young quarterbacks leading high-scoring teams, there’s a contrarian point of view that with so much legalized sports betting taking place across America these days, wagering on the Super Bowl doesn’t have the special allure it once held.
But don’t tell that to the one-in-five American adults who expect to be wagering on the game in one form or another, according to the American Gaming Association. And as it turns out, that may even be a low-ball estimate, based on a separate National Research Group survey estimating more than a third of the population will be in action on the game, with about two-thirds of the bettors planning to risk at least $100.
While the NRG found the most popular type of bet would be on the moneyline — with 40% of survey respondents indicating they would simply pick either the Eagles or Chiefs to win — the Super Bowl is widely known for its creative and even crazy prop bet opportunities, unlike anything seen during the regular season. Naturally, the staff found a few of those in which they plan to partake — for better or worse, or more aptly, for richer or poorer.
Super Bowl LVII is one that shows just how far the marriage of legal sports betting with the most popular of all American sports has come. The game in Glendale, Arizona, marks the first time — but far from the last, with Las Vegas next up as host — that the Super Bowl has been played in a state where no one has to find a dim corner of a bar to surreptitiously place a bet on the game. Heck, BetMGM operates a retail sportsbook right outside State Farm Stadium where people have been placing bets all week and can do so on Sunday.