The Super Bowl is America’s day of excess.
Too much to eat. Sometimes too much to drink. Too many commercials to watch (who goes out of their way to watch commercials any other day of the year?). Too many hours of pregame coverage. Too many dollars charged for people to attend. Too much dwelling on the relationship between Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce and pop icon Taylor Swift. And on, and on, and on.
Sportsbooks love the extravagance and for years have been contributing to the hype by offering hundreds of betting propositions on the game in addition to the traditional point spread and over/under (number of points the teams will combine to score) options.
DraftKings, which now operates in 26 states and has a walk-in shop at Casino Queen in East ºüÀêÊÓƵ, has taken the exorbitance to another level this year by cashing in on Swift-mania now hitting the NFL by offering a bevy of “prop†bets tied to some of her songs.
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Here are some of those props for the game, in which the Chiefs face the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas at 5:30 p.m. (ºüÀêÊÓƵ time) on Sunday:
22: Any quarter to have at least 22 points scored (4-1 odds).
Anti-Hero: 250+ passing yards and 2+ TD passes by Brock Purdy (2-1).
Deja Vu: Chiefs to win by exactly 11 points (+30-1).
Fearless: Purdy with 300+ passing yards, 3+ TD passes and 49ers to win (+10-1).
Fifteen: Patrick Mahomes 15+ rushing yards and 215+ passing yards (-140).
Friendship Bracelets: Kelce or Kyle Juszczyk to score the game’s first TD (6-1).
Gold Rush: 49ers to score 40+ points (7½-1).
How You Get the Girl: Kelce to score a TD in each half (9½-1).
I Knew You Were Trouble: Christian McCaffrey 150+ combined rushing/receiving yards (1.6-1).
Is It Over Now?: Chiefs to ever lead by at least 14 points (2½-1).
Karma: Kelce no catches and 49ers win (30-1).
Look What You Made Me Do: Chiefs to trail in fourth quarter but win (5-1).
Love Story: Chiefs to win, Mahomes and Kelce combine for all Chiefs TDs (20-1).
Mastermind: 49ers to win and rush for at least 200 yards (6-1).
Mine: Kelce at least 87 receiving yards (1.9-1).
Red: Chiefs to Score at least 22 first-half points (10-1).
Run: Kelce at least 5 rushing yards (10-1).
Seven: Winning margin to be exactly 7 points (7-1).
Shake It Off: 49ers to score first but Chiefs win (3½-1).
The Last Great American Dynasty: Chiefs to win by at least 22 points (12-1).
Today Was a Fairytale: Kelce to Score a TD and Chiefs win (2.4-1).
Tatum time
The long list of prop bets offered by the books goes far beyond the Swift fare, and some of the more interesting ones compare accomplishments in the Super Bowl with outcomes in other sporting events.
The Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ native, is the subject of some of this “fun.â€
FanDuel (horse track in Collinsville) has a prop that pays time and a half if the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey scores the first touchdown in the Super Bowl or Tatum makes the first basket in his team’s game against Miami earlier that day.
Argosy (casino in Alton) offers a bet in which Kelce scores a TD and Tatum has a double-double — 10 or more points and rebounds. That would pay 4-1.
The basics
While the inundation of prop bets are fun to look at, the foundation of sports betting is the point spread.
As of Friday afternoon at the local shops, Argosy and DraftKings had the 49ers as a 2-point favorite and FanDuel was at 2½.
All three had the over/under at 47½.
On the money line, on which bettors merely pick a team to win without the point spread being involved, DraftKings had San Francisco at -120 (meaning $120 would have to be risked to try for a $100 profit), Argosy was at -129 and FanDuel had the 49ers at -130. Conversely, the Chiefs were even money at DraftKings, +107 at Argosy and +110 at FanDuel.
Super pick
We’ve refrained from making picks in this space for several months after a rough stretch. But the Super Bowl calls for a return engagement:
San Francisco has the superior offense, but history says it’s tough to pick against the Super Bowl team with the superior defense — and in this case it’s the Chiefs. They allowed just 289.8 yards a game in the regular season, second-fewest in the NFL, and have permitted an average of just 13.7 points in their three playoff contests.
KC has allowed more than 20 points just once in its last eight games, and that exception hardly was a meltdown — 24. San Francisco was on a point-scoring spree early in the season, but that has slowed recently. The Chiefs’ offense, while not as dynamic as in recent years, can do enough to take advantage of the team’s stout defense.
Chiefs 24, 49ers 20
Blues and betting
The Missouri legislature continues to play politics when it comes to legalizing sports betting, something each of the eight bordering states other than Oklahoma has done, and signs are that it will not be approved in this year’s session.
Pro teams across the state are backing an initiative petition to put the issue on the November ballot for voters to decide sports betting’s fate in the state, and the Blues like others are encouraging its approval.
“We think the legalization of sports gambling, which has been legalized in I believe 37 states now, would be a good thing for the residents of Missouri,†Blues president and CEO Chris Zimmerman said this week. “Many are going over the border (to Illinois) to place their bets. Many are using some of the online gambling sites that are unregulated. We believe that sports betting and legalizing is the right thing for Missouri. It certainly will provide some valuable tax revenue for a number of programs. Most of it, I believe, going to education programs, which certainly, we could use.â€
He expressed frustration at the Jefferson City politics.
“The legislative process has been exceptionally difficult so we, along with all the other professional sports teams, have a coalition where we’re working on a ballot petition so that the Missouri voters would have the chance to make their voice heard in November.â€
There could be betting parlors at sports facilities in addition to casinos. But if legal sports wagering does come to Missouri the bulk of the betting would be expected to be placed online, as is the case in many other jurisdictions.
“There’s certainly a possibility of an in-arena sportsbook, but realistically, so much will be happening online and on your phone,†Zimmerman said. “I’m not sure that that’s an outcome that will happen. It could, but we think there’s great value for the state, and for our fans. Broadly, the sports industry looks at sports betting as another way to get more engagement, keep coming back to eyeballs, time spent. Those are the things that create value for all the media outlets.
“We want to give people as many chances as they can to engage with our brand and sports betting would be another way.â€
Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for the group collecting signatures — Winning for Missouri Education — said the effort “is going really well.
“Most Missouri voters know and appreciate that Missouri is only one of about a dozen states that doesn’t allow sporting betting, which deprives Missouri classrooms of tens of millions of dollar in funding each year,†he added.
Matthew DeFranks of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed to this column.