|
The
Super Bowl is the most watched sporting
event of the year but it’s still amazing
how much volume that Super Bowl betting
attracts each year.
Early
estimates are that the 2009 Super Bowl could
have as high as $10,000,000,000 risked on
it. That’s ten billion
for anyone reading at home who is not a fan
of adding up all those zeros. It’s
just an absolutely staggering amount of
money and certain Vegas insiders have
predicted that over half of American homes
will have money wagered on the biggest game
of them all this year. The
$3,000,000 paid for a 30 second commercial
spot in the 2009 Super Bowl seems like a
tiny amount in comparison to amount of money
that could be wagered by the roughly one
billion people who will watch this one.
One of
the most popular internet bets is the coin
toss bet with both heads and tails usually
being in the -105 to -110 range.
There’s nothing better than
starting your day off with a quick victory
at the start of the game and the coin toss
has some weird statistics attached to it
with the NFC having won the last 11 straight
coin tosses and with the winner of the coin
toss unable to defer the decision until the
2nd half like in regular season
games, the winner of the coin toss has
chosen to receive the football in all 42
Super Bowls in league history. Although
it’s a fun bet to make to get the day
started, the coin toss doesn’t seem to
have much effect on the actual game with the
winner of the coin toss only taking home the
Vince Lombardi trophy in 20 of the 42 Super
Bowls.
The
biggest point spread in Super Bowl betting
history came back in 1985 when the San
Francisco 49ers were favored by 18.5 over
the San Diego Chargers and the 49ers
actually managed to cover the large spread
with a 49-26 victory. Favorites
have actually covered in 7 of the last 10
Super Bowls with the largest underdog to get
the point spread cover being the 1969 New
York Jets behind quarterback Joe Namath.
Coming into the game as 18-point
underdogs, the Jets found a way to pull off
the improbable victory with a 16-7 victory
while establishing themselves as football
icons.
6 of the
last 9 Super Bowls have gone under the
betting total as well as 7 of the first 9 if
you include the very first Super Bowl in
that number, a 35-10 Green Bay victory where
a betting total is generally considered lost
in time although any posted number was
likely to go over the total with most games
at 30-40 points in the late ‘60s.
Defensive
lineman Charles Haley has the most Super
Bowl rings of all-time with 5 (2 with the
San Francisco 49ers and 3 more with the
Dallas Cowboys) while Dallas, San Francisco,
and the Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the
most Super Bowl victories in league history
with 5 apiece, a number that Pittsburgh
could top with a win over the Arizona
Cardinals in the 2009 Super Bowl where they
come in as 7-point favorites on the betting
line with a betting total of 47 points.
The
Dallas Cowboys have appeared in the most
Super Bowls with 8 and there longtime rival
San Francisco 49ers have been perfect in
Super Bowl games with a 5-0 mark.
History has shown that it’s very
important for winning Super Bowl teams to
get out early and the statistics show that
the first team to score a touchdown in the
big game has won in 30 of the 42 Super Bowls
in league history. Another
crazy betting statistic is that teams that
have met in the regular season have played
each other 12 times in the final game with
the losing team avenging their loss in 7 of
those games.
Despite
the fact that the Super Bowl location moves
around every season, no team has ever had
home field advantage in the big game
although the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco
49ers, and Los Angeles Rams have all had the
game in their home state where they have
combined to go just 2-2 despite the
proximity to home.
With a
variety of prop bets including the coin
toss, best commercial, individual player
performance props, and things as silly as
how long the national anthem will last, you
can get a bet down on virtually every part
of the Super Bowl and if you are like the
billion or so people that will be watching
at home you probably will do just that. |
