For sports bettors and sportsbooks, Christmas arrives in February instead of December. The Super Bowl is an annual bonanza of sports betting, from active bettors wrapping up the NFL season to casual bettors drawn to the wide range of prop bets available for the big game.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles will meet in Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12. Sportsbooks will put a line out on virtually every aspect of the game, from more standard props to the outcome of the opening coin flip, or whether an offensive tackle or defensive tackle will score a touchdown.
If you think all these props sound interesting and want to know how to give them a shot in Ohio, you’re in the right place. This guide will cover the key points to get you started with Super Bowl prop betting, including an overview of the various bets and how you can start placing your wagers.
How to bet on Super Bowl props
To get started at an NFL betting site in Ohio, you can head to one of the online sportsbooks listed on this site and register for an account. All the links on this site go directly to legal online sportsbooks currently operating in Ohio. You’ll need to provide some standard information about yourself, and you’ll be able to claim any welcome bonuses the sportsbook offers. After that, you can start betting.
Get $300
21+ and present in OH. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER+
To find the Super Bowl props, head to the football page by clicking on the appropriate link on the left, generally either “Football” or “NFL.” There you will find a list of Super Bowl prop bets for the big game.
Popular Super Bowl prop bets
Some Super Bowl props have reached such a level of popularity that they’ll receive a hefty number of wagers no matter who is playing in the Big Game. Here are some of those favorites so you can look out for them when you’re making your selections:
Coin toss: Heads or tails?
One of the top Super Bowl props every year is betting on whether the coin toss will land on heads or tails. The coin toss at the Super Bowl is a big event, often with a former player or coach performing the honors. In addition, there is always a special commemorative coin for the event. With 50/50 odds of picking the correct option, it’s not something you can research.
However, just because the odds are 50/50 doesn’t mean that sportsbooks will be overly generous with the lines. They must put vigorish into the lines, and thus most sportsbooks will offer around -110 for each side. This means you would need to bet $110 to win $100 if you bet correctly, with your winnings and your original bet forming your overall payout.
Color of Gatorade bath
Another fun prop is betting on the color of Gatorade the winning team will pour on its head coach. The Gatorade bath is a tradition that every winning team adheres to. Popular colors will have shorter odds, while more unique colors will have longer odds.
One thing that bettors like to look at is the primary colors of the two teams competing in the game and then hoping the winning team matches one of its colors with Gatorade. As you might imagine, this strategy is by no means always successful.
Scoring props
You’ll find many fun Super Bowl prop bets related to the touchdowns during the Super Bowl. One of the most popular is betting on who will be the first player to score a touchdown. If it’s a passing touchdown, the receiver is the player who is credited. Potential returns can be quite high if you somehow manage to successfully identify a dark horse as the correct pick.
Other props that have to do with scoring are simply betting on a specific individual to score a touchdown at any time. As long as that player scores a touchdown, your bet will win. The sports betting lines for this selection will be weaker than predicting the first touchdown scorer, though.
Super Bowl player props vs. team props
Standard NFL prop bets tend to fit into one of several categories: player props, team props and game props. Player props involve the performance of specific individuals, while team props are bets on team accomplishments. Game props, meanwhile, are wagers on whether specific game states will occur, such as if the game will go to overtime.
Some specific examples of player props are betting on who will win the Super Bowl MVP award, the first touchdown scorer and anytime touchdown scorer bets that we mentioned above, and other statistical achievements. That last item, betting on the statistical achievements of a certain player, may be the most common. This means betting on a player to go over or under a certain statistical benchmark. For example, will the quarterback throw for over or under 2.5 touchdowns?
While team props are inherently different, certain player props will have an equivalent for the team. For example, instead of betting on a specific player to go over a certain number of rushing yards, you could bet on the entire team having over a certain number of rushing yards.
The Super Bowl MVP prop is an interesting one. Often the odds will be slightly longer if you pick a quarterback to win the MVP award than picking that quarterback’s team to win. Because so many quarterbacks have won the award, one option is to shoot for a larger return by betting on the quarterback instead of the team. However, sometimes a different player will have a performance that is too good to ignore, and you’ll regret trying to get fancy.
Super Bowl offensive vs. defensive props
We can further split Super Bowl prop bets by the side of the ball. Some props will be for the offenses on both teams, while others will be for the defenses. While more bettors may lean toward playing more offensive props due to the higher level of excitement with scoring, a smart bettor will aim to play whichever props offer the most value, no matter which side of the ball they are on.
Some of the more common props associated with offense have to do with scoring. Which player will score? When will the first touchdown happen? How far will the longest scoring drive be? How about the shortest?
On the other side, you’ll find a variety of defensive props. Some of the more common options you might see would be betting on the number of turnovers in the game, which team will have more turnovers, or if there will be a defensive touchdown.
When betting on some of these props, it can be a good idea to look at any past matchups between the two teams. Realize that the coaches will be looking to deviate from what they did in the previous matchup, but it’s hard for a team to change its identity on short notice. If you spot a trend that can help, you may want to factor that into your calculations.
In addition, realize that whichever team loses at the end of the game will go all out. The Super Bowl differs from your average regular-season game, and coaches will continue to take risks to the final whistle. This means that often near the end of games there can be plenty of turnovers, even if the game has already largely been decided.
Super Bowl crossover props
For those who still haven’t found a category that they like, or maybe are just looking for something wild to bet on, crossover props may be the ticket. These involve wagers where the Super Bowl isn’t the only event you’re betting on. Instead, these wagers involve other sports that also have games happening at the same time as the Super Bowl.
For example, if there are NBA games on the night of the Super Bowl, you’ll likely see crossover props associated with the game. The sportsbooks will get creative and allow you to choose between two options, one from each sport. For example, at Caesars Sportsbook or FanDuel Sportsbook Ohio, you might be able to bet on whether one team’s quarterback will throw two or more touchdowns plus whether a specific basketball player will score 25 or more points.
Because the options can vary wildly, it’s going to depend on which Ohio sports betting site you pick to determine which bets are available to you. However, all the regulated sportsbooks moving into the Ohio market will likely offer some variety of crossover props for Super Bowl betting.
Can you bet on the Super Bowl national anthem?
Because sports betting laws in US states generally allow wagers only on sports and not musical performances, for the most part, you won’t be able to bet on the national anthem or halftime show. You won’t be able to place legal prop bets on how long it will take to sing the national anthem, or on whether there will be any nudity during the halftime show, for example.
In the past, however, DraftKings Sportsbook has skirted this by incorporating something sports-related into a national anthem prop. It offered a bet on whether there would be a scoring drive in the game that took less time to complete than the national anthem.
Notable Super Bowl prop bets
Some of the largest bets ever placed on the Super Bowl have been prop bets. One bettor, for instance, put down over $200,000 on Kansas City Chiefs running back Damien Williams rushing for under 53.5 yards in Super Bowl LIV. The bet ended up losing, as Williams rushed for over 100 yards, even though he went over that milestone only a handful of times during the regular season.
For Super Bowl LV, one bettor placed $100 on the Kansas City Chiefs scoring a total of 4 points in the game. The same bettor placed the same bet on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While the odds were astronomical, both bets lost as the final score was 31-9 in favor of the Buccaneers.
One of the most famous prop bets of all time comes from Super Bowl XX. Prop bets were still in their infancy, and when big man William “The Refrigerator” Perry rumbled over the goal line, sportsbooks that had taken wagers on that exact thing happening had to pay out.