In the past 25 or so years, Super Bowl proposition bets have moved from a wagering novelty to wagering mainstay. And they will be a big attraction for Kansas sports betting in Sunday’s Super Bowl 57 with state residents able to wager on the game legally for the first time as their beloved Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles.
Casino sportsbooks in Las Vegas pushed prop bets – wagers on various events in the game, or even before or after the game – a little more than a quarter-century ago mainly because the Super Bowls of the mid-1980s through the late-1990s were blowouts.
Why Super Bowl Prop Bets Proliferate
Back then, legal sports betting was almost entirely confined to Nevada’s physical sportsbooks, most of them in casinos, because a federal law barred most other states from offering any sports wagering. And the notion of the prop bets came about because sportsbook managers were trying to keep the bettors in the casinos since the Super Bowl games had become so consistently lopsided.
The concern became particularly acute when San Francisco was an 18.5-point favorite against San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995.
Now, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, more than 30 states have some kind of legal sports betting. Most adopted an online component such as the mobile Kansas betting apps available statewide.
The broad legalization of sports betting combined with the ease and breadth of betting on a computer or smart phone has propelled the Super Bowl prop bet phenomena from something that was initially a side gimmick to center stage of the Super Bowl fan experience.
Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl Prop Bets
As the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs prepare for their fifth Super Bowl, this time against the NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, a dizzying array of prop bets can be found on online sportsbooks, such as the Kansas BetMGM Sportsbook.
These days, savvy bettors will frequently choose prop bets that are likely to be settled at various stages of the game. That way there’s a constant stream of action – if bettors misfire on one prop, there are more wagers to look forward to.
Of course, one the earliest prop bets is the coin flip but, let’s face it, that wager is hardly predicated on skill.
So, in exercising one’s football acumen, among the most popular bets are which player will score the game’s first touchdown as well as the manner of the first score.
Travis Kelce Super Bowl Betting Options
Focusing on the Chiefs, the Kansas City player with the shortest odds to score first is, of course, tight end Travis Kelce. He had a career-high 12 touchdown catches this regular season and has added three TD receptions in two playoff games.
His odds on scoring the first TD in this Super Bowl are +650, meaning a $100 bet would win $650 if Kelce scored the game’s first touchdown. However, the likelihood of Kelce scoring at all during the game are considered so good, those odds are -125, so, a bettors would have to wager $125 to win $100.
But if a bettor likes Kelce a great deal and that first TD bet fails, there’s the opportunity to wager on the tight end scoring the game’s last touchdown, also at +650 odds – an even more enticing opportunity for those taking advantage of the Kansas sportsbook promotions at BetKansas.
Looking at other Chiefs for that first TD prop bet, running back Isiah Pacheco is +850 and fellow running back Jerick McKinnon is +1100.
Patrick Mahomes Super Bowl Betting Props
For Chiefs fans more focused on superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, there’s a prop bet for how many completions he has against the Eagles, with good payouts for those guessing the exact number. The shortest odds are that it’s 20 or fewer completions at +425. One of the biggest payoffs is for exactly 31 completions at +1600.
Back to tight end Kelce, there’s a similar wager on how many receptions he’ll have. Four or fewer is +475 and exactly seven receptions is also +475. For a bigger payoff, exactly 11 receptions is +120. And Caesars Kansas Sportsbook offers Kelce at +1000 to be game MVP.
There is a prop bet on the first score of the game – will it be a touchdown (and by which team), a field goal or a highly unlikely safety? The safety is a +6600 payoff and sportsbooks remember ruefully that, though such a score on the first play is rare indeed, it has happened three times in the Super Bowl, including twice recently.
Super Bowl XLVIII started with the first snap sailing past quarterback Peyton Manning before he was ready. The result was a safety for Seattle. And that was the second Super Bowl in three years that started with a 2-0 score. Two years previously, legendary New England quarterback Tim Brady was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone against the New York Giants for a 2-0 start to that game.
Huge Payouts For Longshot Wagers
There are literally hundreds of prop bet outcomes to peruse and put money on.
Picking an exact final score can produce lottery jackpot types of prizes. For instance, a final score of Kansas City 22, Philadelphia 17 has odds of lottery-like +50000. So, a successful $100 bet would yield a profit of $50,000. A more likely exact score of Kansas City 23, Philadelphia 20 is +6600, so hitting that one exactly with a $100 bet is a more modest $6,600 win for Kansas NFL betting.
Super Bowl prop bets gained popularity 25 to 30 years ago as casinos hoped to keep a few hundred or maybe a few thousand bettors in the casino. These days, the same point is accomplished by prop bets on the big game – but now we’re talking about keeping millions of fans glued to their TV sets with billions of dollars in wagers on the line.
And bettors in Kansas can participate for the first time without having to go all the way to Las Vegas.
