CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Brendan Peterman never felt so sure of a bet in his life. The year was 2011 and the Massachusetts native admittedly put an “obscene” amount on his sure thing: $1,500 to win $300. The return wasn’t great, but in his view, it was a lock.
After all, there was no way, he thought, the Super Bowl would feature another “wardrobe malfunction” at halftime. Not after Janet Jackson.
Yes, Peterman actually placed money on whether Fergie would accidentally expose … something … when the Black Eyed Peas performed at the Super Bowl. Peterman won that bet, too, when Fergie’s wardrobe functioned as planned.
Peterman is just one of the millions of Americans who use the Super Bowl as an opportunity to gamble, including on proposition bets that have little to do with the action itself. The American Gaming Association projects a record 26 million Americans will wager an estimated $6.8 billion on Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
“It was just not going to happen,” Peterman said with a laugh. “Yeah it was an insane amount just to do it, but they were all terrified. If you look at the list (of performers after Janet Jackson), the next five or six years, it was Paul McCartney, it was Bruce Springsteen, it was The Who, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers — they didn’t even have a woman on stage because of it.”
Prop bets themselves are nothing new. But each year, they seem to get more and more creative. For instance, Bovada, an offshore sports betting website, offers wagers involving Chiefs coach Andy Reid wearing a Hawaiian shirt during the game (+1400), or if he’ll eat a cheeseburger on the field (+1200).
QUIZ: Take the ultimate NFL Super Bowl MVPs trivia challenge
Want to bet how many Instagram posts Patrick Mahomes’ girlfriend will have on Sunday? You can do that. The over/under for is 4½ posts, by the way.
At first, elaborate, over-the-top prop bets were little more than public relations ploys, said Dave Mason, brand manager for the online sportsbook BetOnline. But now they’ve gotten so popular that competing sportsbooks offer thousands to try to best each other.
For the Super Bowl, Mason said 40% to 50% of the total bets placed come from props — a drastic increase from the typical 5% to 10% for a regular-season matchup.
“Every year, the competition, everybody’s trying to come up with the craziest stuff, the biggest offering, the most unique stuff,” Mason said. “It’s kind of an arms race, right, to see who can get their name out there the most. … You see some great stuff out there, like, ’Oh man, why didn’t I think of that?’”
Asked if there was a prop he was particularly proud of, Mason laughed. “I think my mom is turning over in her grave,” he said. But Mason pointed to “the cleavage prop,” where bettors can gamble on if halftime acts Jennifer Lopez or Shakira — or both — will wear revealing outfits during their performance.
“I don’t know if proud is the right word,” Mason said.
While most of the more distinctive props are featured online, even casinos within the states are getting in on the action. The world of sports betting has rapidly expanded since the Supreme Court struck down the federal law that banned sports gambling in 2018.
At the Hollywood Casino and Inn in Charles Town, West Virginia, bettors can gamble on a variety of props, such as Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s yardage, which player will record the game’s first interception or the coin toss.
The casino does not offer odds on things such as the length of the national anthem — one of the more popular bets each year — but inside, bettors sit in lounge chairs, meticulously going over the printed sheets of all the offerings. There are also electronic kiosks to place bets, as well.
Such accessibility can be tempting. But it can also be painful. David Cheezum, 21, watched the Clippers-Mavericks game last week because he had bet on Kawhi Leonard getting a triple-double — only for him to lose $400 when the superstar came up one rebound short. He was, however, mulling to place money on whether 49ers tight end George Kittle will catch a touchdown Sunday.
Paolo Rivera, 25, said he avoids prop bets in general.
“They’re just traps, man,” Rivera said. “(Oddsmakers) know what they’re doing. They just do.”
That doesn’t stop people from willing to take a risk. Already this year, 80% of the bets for Demi Lovato’s national anthem performance are on the “over” — jumping from a duration of 1 minute, 56 seconds to now 2 minutes, 1 second, according to BetOnline.
Mason remembered that the first time he went to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, the loudest cheer of the event was for the coin toss — with half the people inside the casino going “ballistic” for the result.
It was louder, he said, than any touchdown.
“It’s just tradition,” Mason said. “If you’re a bettor, you’ve got to have money on that coin toss. You’ve got to have money on that national anthem. And Gatorade color. And all that stuff. It’s kind of tradition. … You’ve got just to do it.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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