More than $300 billion has been bet with American sportsbooks since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court released a ruling that sparked widespread expansion of legal betting. Now, for the first time, the Super Bowl — the most heavily bet single game in U.S. sports — is coming to Las Vegas.
Amazing.
In the first week since the matchup was set, there was at least one million-dollar bet, a six-figure wager on the coin flip (tails never fails!) and a slew of Taylor Swift-related prop offerings from sportsbooks.
Bigger and wilder bets are expected, and ESPN’s sports betting team, led by writers Doug Greenberg and David Purdum, will follow it all in this updating file that’s ripe for bookmarking.
Good luck!
Super Bowl LVIII
Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers
Sunday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m. ET, Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
Consensus point spread and total: 49ers -2, 47.5
Money line: San Francisco -130/Kansas City +110
Action report: The early betting has been lopsided on the underdog Chiefs, with BetMGM, DraftKings, ESPN BET and FanDuel each reporting 71-76% of the spread bets on Kansas City.
Action on the money line also is lopsided, with around 85% of the bets on Kansas City as of Feb. 2.
Saturday update: After an initial move toward the Chiefs, the Super Bowl point spread has been ticking back up toward the favored 49ers. The SuperBook on Saturday bumped the line up to San Francisco -2.5.
Jeff Sherman, vice president of risk for the SuperBook, told ESPN an accumulation of bets on the 49ers prompted the move. “We just want to put it out there, see if anyone wants 2.5 at this time,” Sherman said in a text message.
The big Super Bowl bets
• $1 million: The first of what’s expected to be several million-dollar Super Bowl bets was reported Jan. 30 by Caesars Sportsbook. The bet: $1 million on the 49ers money line (-120).
• $120,000: One bettor at South Point put in wagers for 60 different props across the board at $2,000 each for a total of $120,000, per Vaccaro.
• $105,000: Legendary Las Vegas bookmaker Jimmy Vaccaro of the South Point casino reported taking a $105,000 bet on the 49ers -1 on Jan. 29.
• $100,000: Caesars reported taking a $100,000 on the coin toss to land tails from a Michigan bettor on Jan. 30. A hundred K on the coin toss? What the flip!?
Side note: The most popular prop bet at DraftKings as of Feb. 2 was… tails. The second-most popular: heads.
• $25,000 to win $1 million: A bettor with DraftKings reportedly put $25,000 on Kansas City running back Isiah Pacheco to be named Super Bowl MVP. At 40-1, the bet would pay $1 million.
• $15,000 to win $975,000: A bettor with DraftKings dropped $15,000 on Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice to be MVP. At 65-1, the bet would win $975,000.
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