Last Thursday, the scene at Westgate sports book was quite a show! It was like Christmas morning all over again for several bettors who quickly lined up in front of the props-only betting window, where there was a steady line of over 25 bettors for the first hour and beyond. It was an only-in-Las Vegas night, where the world’s largest indoor LED audio-visual wall lit up at 7p.m. with about 400 Super Bowl LI prop bets dispatched in bright green-and-white letters and numbers.
Countless bettors, including professionals who refused to comment, upped the ante and then headed straight to the back of the line as it took time to absorb the mammoth amount of props on the menu. The Golden Knights made their entrance on the extensive list of cross-sport props, where bettors can wager on who will have more: Knights goals in their first NHL regular-season game later this year (minus-½ goal, minus-130) or total field goals made in the first half by the Falcons and Patriots (plus-½, plus-110).
Patient gamblers can also bet on who will have more: Knights total 2017-18 regular-season points (minus-20½, minus-110) or Atlanta’s Devonta Freeman rushing yards (plus-20½, minus-110). Other cross-sport props include NHL stars Connor McDavid and Alex Ovechkin, NBA stars LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook and Isaiah Thomas, golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, soccer players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, and many more.
Bettors also can bet on practically everything that happens in the game – from the opening coin toss and player to score the first touchdown, to who will be named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (Atlanta kicker Matt Bryant is 100-1, and New England running back James White is 200-1) and everything in between.
Jay Kornegay, who is Westgate sports book director expressed that while props used to be known in the gaming world as “sucker bets,” that’s no longer the case: “Over the years, the general public has had a lot of success and enjoyed themselves, and we’ve done well over the years. It’s gone both ways,” he said. “There’s only been a handful of safeties. We’re thankful for that and thankful there’s never been an overtime.”
The public cashed in on securities in three straight Super Bowls from 2012 to 2014 – twice as the first score of the game – and the “Will there be a safety?” prop remains one of the most popular, albeit at 6-1 odds after it used to open at 10-1 or higher. Bettors can get 11-1 odds that there will be a safety in the first half and 10-1 odds that there will be one in the second half.
For the record, a Super Bowl has never gone to overtime. Will there be overtime in Super Bowl LI? Yes is plus-700, and no is minus-1100.
For more sports updates, keep your eyes peeled for more of 702 ENT‘s updates.
