The New England Patriots are currently 3-point favorites to beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. That's the most basic way people can wager money on the game. But, as we all know by now, one of the things that makes the Super Bowl so much fun is the countless number of proposition bets that oddsmakers create.
Super Bowl Prop Bets: Heads Or Tails Is Merely The Beginning
Some of them are pretty straightforward (via Bovada), like who will win the MVP (Tom Brady is the favorite at 13/10) or who will score the first touchdown (Rob Gronkowski is the the favorite at 11/2). You can, of course, bet on the outcome of the opening coin flip (both are essentially even money at -105) or who will win that coin flip (same odds).
The fun stuff is when you dig down a little deeper, though. For instance, you can bet on whether or not a touchdown will be scored within the first 7 minutes, 30 seconds of the game (“yes” pays -280, while “no” pays +220); which quarter will be the highest scoring (first: 13/5, second: 7/4, third: 3/1, fourth: 11/5); or whether or not the game will be decided by exactly three points (yes: +325, no: -450).
If those are too simple for you, oddsmakers have lots of other much more complicated props, too. There's a whole category of "historical props" that compare this year's performance against past performances. Among them are Eli Manning's passing yardage in 2012 vs. his passing yardage in Super Bowl XLII (this year's yardage total is "favored" by 49.5 yards over XLII's total of 255 and pays -130) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis' rushing total vs. Laurence Maroney's rushing total of 36 yards in XLII which pays -110 on either side (Green-Ellis would have to exceed Maroney's total by 8.5 yards).
Of course, that’s just scratching the surface. As the game gets closer, there will surely be even more exotic ones.
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