Place your bets for the Super Bowl!

Options galore for the greatest show on turf

It’s the big one on Sunday night – Super Bowl LIII, in Atlanta, between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.

Super Bowl is one of those standout sporting occasions, like the Grand National for example, when it’s just required viewing, frankly. Over 100 million people alone will tune in to watch in the United States, and many, many more will do exactly the same in every corner of the world.

NFL is massive in the UK, and Super Bowl parties will be taking place the length and breadth of the country.

It’s fun to have a little flutter if you’re viewing – so we thought we’d look at some of the betting markets, and demystify any if you’re trying to get your head around some of them.

And don’t forget – while in the regular season it’s entirely possible to have the odd tied game, if overtime still can’t sort them out, in the knockout stuff that is postseason, and especially in this biggest game of them all, there will definitely be a winner!

At the heart of it all are the three main pillars of American sports betting;

Money Line – simply the outright price for your team TO WIN.

Spread – the handicap. Traders take a view as to which of the two teams is most likely to win. The ‘line’ (that’s what we call it) for Super Bowl LIII is currently New England minus 2.5.

That means in the opinion of the Traders they are notionally around 2-and-a-half points stronger than the Rams. What will happen in reality of course is anyone’s guess!

If you back the Patriots -2.5, they must therefore actually win the game by 3 points or more for you to win your bet. If the spread was, say, -10.5, they would have to win by 11 or more, and so on.

The other side of the coin is that if you fancy the Rams at +2.5, they can afford to lose the actual match by 2 points and you’re still a winner, after you add in the notional 2.5 points that they are receiving.

What if the spread is, say, a whole number? Let’s say New England are -2 on the spread, and the final score in the match is New England Patriots 28 Los Angeles Rams 26. The Pats have won the match – but your bet is the Pats -2.

After you’ve applied the handicap (the spread) to the result, it’s now notionally NE 26 and LA also 26. You’ve neither won, nor lost – so in a two-way market you’ll get your stake money back.

Only when there is a third option added ‘(handicap tie’) will this not apply, because that option is also available to back.

Game Totals/Total Points

Again, the Traders will take a view as to how many points IN TOTAL the match will produce. You can then choose to back UNDER, or OVER, that figure.

For the same reasons as above, if the figure is a whole number (say, 58), and the score is 30-28 (which of course totals 58), it’s neither over or under, so stakes will be returned (unless again there’s that third option of, say, EXACTLY 58).

Spread and total points bets will always be able to be settled when ‘half a point’ is involved, because of course there’s no such thing in reality as half a point.

For this Super Bowl the current number for total points betting is 55.5, but as with all sporting events, prices and lines are subject to fluctuation.

Using this figure of 55.5, there’s definitely going to be a way to settle all total points bets, because there’s no way the total points figure the match produces can in reality include half a point!

Perhaps this will also help ….

These are the big three – but that’s nowhere near the end of the available betting opportunities.

In the same way for example that Football has first goalscorer, correct score, corners, and a whole host of others, so does American Football.

First Touchdown Scorer. Total points for the respective teams. The winning margin. Anytime Touchdown Scorer. Hopefully fairly self-explanatory – but there are many others, usually collectively referred to as ‘Props’ (proposition bets).

Here’s a flavour of just some of them;

Total Rushing Yards – take running backs (Pats’ Sony Michel for example). The Traders will set a notional figure as to how many yards a player will make carrying the ball (rushing) IN TOTAL throughout the course of the match.

In the Conference final against the Chiefs, Michel had 29 carries all told for a total yardage of 113.

For Super Bowl, the Traders have set his ‘line’ at 79.5. Do you fancy ‘UNDER, or OVER, that figure? Time to have a flutter!

Total Receiving Yards – take receivers (Pats’ Julian Edelman for example). In the Conference final against the Chiefs he managed 96 total yards from his 7 receptions.

For the Super Bowl, the Traders have set his ‘line’ at 82.5. Again – fancy UNDER, or OVER that figure? It will usually be around 10/11 for either outcome.

Once again, this may assist, too ….

How about the top dogs, the Quarterbacks? New England’s Tom Brady (above) has a host of markets associated with just how he’ll perform in the match. Any of these take your fancy?

Total Passing Yards (he had 348 against the Chiefs – his ‘line’ for Super Bowl is 294.5. Are you going over, or under?)

Total Touchdown Passes

Total Interceptions

Total ‘Sacks’ (when the defenders get to the Quarterback and catch him {invariably flatten him} while he’s in still in possession).

Total Rushing Yards (not one of Brady’s strongpoints – his ‘line’ is just 1.5 yards!)

And finally …..

How about the game’s MVP (Most Valuable Player). Tom Brady’s the 5/4 fav, with opposite number Jared Goff at 2/1. Todd Gurley 16/1? Edelman 33’s?

There are so many fun markets associated with this great occasion. I hope this look at just some of them will have cleared the mists for some, and whetted the appetite for all.

Take a look at the dedicated Super Bowl LIII link on the website.

Enjoy the Super Bowl, one of sport’s great worldwide occasions – with Betfred.