Oddsmakers may have opened Indianapolis as a 4-point favorite over New Orleans but Super Bowl betting fans quickly showed their disapproval of that number, backing the Colts to a 5-point choice over the Saints in the NFL Championship game in Miami, Feb. 7. The total on the game, which opened at 52, also has been bet up to as high as 56 at some sportsbooks.
The Super Bowl, the top betting attraction in North America, is the one wagering event where money from unsophisticated bettors, often called "squares," can mitigate the cash invested by professional gamblers, who often are referred to as "sharps." Will the number continue to climb? The view here is that should the spread reach 6, there'll be some serious buy-back. Since NFL games rarely land on 5, sportsbooks have little fear of a middle and probably will keep the spread in the 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 range.
Gamblers who prefer the money line to the pointspread can lay -210 (bet $210 to win $100) on the Colts winning the game or take +175 (bet $100 to win $175) on the Saints getting the win, although an Internet shopping spree revealed one sportsbook where you only have to lay -187 on Indianapolis and another where you can take +184 on New Orleans, a scenario that all but eliminates the vigorish.
The Super Bowl XLIV pairing of the Colts (16-2) and Saints (15-3) matches the respective No. 1 seeds in the AFC and NFC playoffs and the teams with the best records in the NFL, creating an interesting betting game, as well. Indianapolis was 12-6 against the spread (ATS), including 11-5 as a favorite. New Orleans was 9-9 ATS, including 0-1 as an underdog.
Although 80 percent of Super Bowl XLIV betting will be on the side and total, in an attempt to differentiate from the competition and lure new customers, sportsbooks will offer hundreds of betting propositions on the big game.
One of the more popular props allows sports betting enthusiasts to pick their own pointspread. But these "teasers" come at a price. For example, if you'd like to boost the spread on New Orleans to over a touchdown to +8, you can but you have to lay -200 on this 3-point teaser. Or, you can lessen the burden on Indianapolis to under a field goal to -2, but that too, will force you to lay -200. The price gets even steeper with an 6-point teaser. You want the Saints at +11? OK, sure, but you have to lay -260. The same price applies to the Colts at +1.
Gamblers looking for a bigger payoff with a smaller investment can find that too by betting on the game's margin of victory. For instance, if you believe New Orleans will win Super Bowl XLIV by 43 or more points, you get 250/1. Sorry, the wager does not come with a complete lobotomy. More realistic is 7/2 on Indianapolis winning by 1-6 points; 4/1 on the Colts by 7-12 points; and 6/1 by 13-18 points. A New Orleans victory by 1-6 points gets you 4/1; it's 8/1 if the Saints win by 7-12 points; and 10/1 if New Orleans triumphs by 13-18 points.
There also are propositions on which team will score first, which will score last and whether that score will be a touchdown, field goal or safety. Some books have a prop on whether the game's first touchdown is by rushing (3/2), passing (8/13) or via defense or special teams (8/1).
You can take odds of 9/1 that the game goes into overtime, or lay 1/33 that things get decided in regulation. Gamblers who like the possibility of overtime ("60 Minutes will be seen in its entirety right after the game, except on the West Coast where it will be seen in its regular time slot") can bet on whether the overtime ends with a field goal (2/7), touchdown (9/4), safety (100/1) or with neither team scoring (22/1). C'mon, a second overtime? That's got to be worth more than 22/1!
There's even the mindless proposition on whether the opening game coin toss results in a head or a tail. You lay -105 either way. I know this is hard to believe, but one year there was so much action on "heads" that one sportsbook had to adjust its line to -110/even.
It was not the finest moment in the history of Super Bowl betting.
