The 11 strangest things you can actually bet on for the Super Bowl
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
It is estimated that when bets placed outside of Vegas are tallied, whether they be a DraftKings lineup, a handshake bet with friends, or buying a square in an office pool, over $4.2 billion dollars will be wagered on the outcome of Sunday's game.
Many of those bets will be simple: Who will win the game? Which player scores the first touchdown? Do the Panthers cover the spread? These bets make sense; people can look at past performance and make predictions based on what they believe will happen. But in darker corners of the Internet, where offshore sportsbooks can take bets that not beholden to the governing laws of Las Vegas, you can gamble on some oddly specific stuff, referred to in the industry as "prop bets."
Prop bets (short for proposition bets) allow books to take more action by offering bettors things to bet on beyond just the outcome of the game. In Vegas, these bets are legal as long as they can be concretely decided on the field of play. And while nothing is more entertaining than gambling in Vegas for the Super Bowl (trust me I know), there are some perks to betting online. Sometimes you'll scroll through your options at an online sportsbook and be absolutely bewildered by the things people are willing to gamble on.
This week I ran through all of the props offered on the big game offered at Bovada, a prominent online sportsbook. I now present them to you listed below, in ascending order of insanity.
(NOTE: I am in no way advocating for you to gamble, but if that's your fancy, go for it. It's a free country.)
Prop 1: Lady Gaga and the national anthem
Bovada
A quick note on how to read odds: Above you see the Over listed as +110 and the Under at -150. Those numbers correspond to the odds you are receiving on your bet. When a number is listed with a plus sign in front of it, that number is the amount of money you win if your initial bet is $100. So in the case of Gaga and the national anthem, if you place a $100 bet on the over and you win, you will win $110 in addition to getting your initial investment of $100 back. Conversely, when a number is listed with a minus sign in front of it, that number represents the amount of money you would have to bet in order to win $100. So bettors who take the under in this case would have to bet $150 if they wanted a $100 return on their winning bet.
Prop 2: Gatorade dump
Bovada
Prop 3: Thanks
Bovada
Prop 4: Buffalo Wild Wings
Bovada
Prop 5: Manning/Duncan retire as champions parlay
Bovada
Prop 6: Will Peyton cry?
Bovada
Pretty amazing that you can literally bet on the future emotions of a human being.
Prop 7: Mike Carey
Bovada
With that said, SB Nation recently reported that Mike Carey is correct in 90% of his calls, so if you want to bet money just to troll your least favorite television referee, proceed with caution.
Prop 8: Dabs
Bovada
But alas, it will be Nantz and Simms calling Super Bowl 50, both of whom tend to stay pretty safe when it comes to their commentary on player actions. I don't see the dab count getting to three.
Prop 9: Bey's footwear
Bovada
Prop 10: Earthquake
Bovada
Prop 11: Left Shark
Bovada
This is really a bet on whether or not you believe CBS to be cynical enough to attempt to cash in on #memeculture to bring back last year's viral sensation to try and recapture the magic. Personally, I don't see where a Left Shark appearance fits into a halftime performance between Coldplay and Beyonce. It's much more likely to me that Left Shark shows up in a Super Bowl commercial, but sadly, I haven't been able to find odds on that.
Which brings me to the only prop bet that I was legitimately shocked I could not find up anywhere online: Will Donald Trump run a campaign ad during the Super Bowl? If anyone wants to offer me +2000 on a $10 bet, find me on Twitter and we can work out the details.
Until then, gamble smart and enjoy the Super Bowl.
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