The game may be the thing for the die-hard football fans, but the beauty of Super Bowl wagering is the 50/50 propositions on events related to the football game.
For starters, country star Luke Bryan will perform The Star-Spangled Banner prior to the NFL championship game at NRG Stadium in Houston on Sunday. The over/under on the duration of the national anthem is two minutes 15 seconds, with each prop listed at -120 on the moneyline, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The last 11 anthem performers have needed an average of 1:58 to complete the song.
Bryan is listed at -200 to be wearing jeans when he starts the anthem (+150 for any other type of attire) and -700 to not leave out any words, as Christina Aguilera did a few years back.
Picking heads or tails, or either the Atlanta Falcons or New England Patriots to win the coin toss are each listed at -105. The coin has come up tails in the last three Super Bowls, after a five-year stretch of landing heads. The team winning the coin toss is 6-9 in the last 15 years, so perhaps bettors should feel secure picking the team they feel will lose the game.
Pop singer Lady Gaga may rely on shock value with her outfits, but lead halftime entertainers tend to go with the tried-and-true from their song catalogs.
Given the political climate in the United States, it’s not surprising that Born This Way, which includes empowerment themes, is favored at +225 to be the first song that Gaga performs. Bad Romance is second at +250, with Edge of Glory (+600), Just Dance (+1000) and Poker Face (+1000) also on the board.
Lastly, but certainly not least, there is the prop wager on what color of Gatorade (for betting purposes, Gatorade can be any liquid) will be poured over the winning coach. Clear/water, lime/green, orange and yellow are each listed at +300. Each team’s color is on the board, with the red of the Falcons listed at +600 and the blue of the Patriots listed at +750.
Orange has been used in four of the last seven years. Only twice in the past 16 years has the color synced with the winning team’s color – the Pittsburgh Steelers (yellow) after Super Bowl 43 and the Denver Broncos (orange) after last season’s Super Bowl 50.
As for the game, the Patriots are three-point favorites against the Falcons with a 58.5 total.
