Super Bowl Betting is Getting Bigger — and Weirder
Plus: The Fed takes a pause, a year of the Trump economy — and, is it time to sell your gold?
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Temp at kickoff? Gatorade color? First Bad Bunny song? All bets are on.
Football is far from the only thing you can bet on come Sunday. The biggest game day of the year is a free-for-all for bettors of all stripes — and it’s easier than ever to make a wager.
Sports betting itself has seen a meteoric rise in the past few years. The American Gaming Association expects that roughly $1.76 billion will be legally bet on Super Bowl 60 in the U.S. — a 27% year-over-year increase and a record number.
You can still place the usual bets on who wins Super Bowl 60 when the Seattle Seahawks (the clear favorites) face the New England Patriots (the de facto underdogs). But you can also wager on a whole host of things that have nothing to do with coin toss wins, touchdowns or the MVP.
Here are some of the more notable novelty bets we’ve seen so far from popular sports betting apps like DraftKings and BetMGM, as well as prediction market newcomers Kalshi and Polymarket:
- The first song in Bad Bunny’s halftime set and what he’ll wear during it.
- If a player or coach will cry during the National Anthem, and the total length of the last “brave” note held during the song.
- Temperature at the time of kickoff.
- Color of first gatorade pouring on the winning head coach, and the positions of the players who pour it.
- The number of times Cardi B will appear on the broadcast, and if Stefon Diggs will propose to her after the game.
- Who will attend the big game — Kim Kardashian, Timothée Chalamet or Drake?
- Who the MVP winner will thank at the podium.
What’s changing isn’t that people like to gamble — it’s that betting apps and websites are frictionless. Betting is legal, instant and it’s on your phone — you can place a wager in seconds and adjust it mid-game as the app’s algorithm updates the odds in real time. Instead of doom scrolling, you could be gambling! Sports betting is so baked in at this point, it doesn’t feel like a side activity — it’s just part of how people watch.
Knowing when to tap out
Apps, gambling and watching sports are all fun, but they can also be habit-forming. You’ll get no finger-wagging from me: If you want to gamble, go for it. But it’s key to treat betting like entertainment, not income. It helps to set your own limits, stick to them and back out if you’re not having a good time.
If betting of any kind starts to feel out of your control, there are resources to get support. A good first place to start is the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-MY-RESET.
Also in the Feb. 6 edition of MoneyNerd:
- ICE tactics at issue as another partial shutdown looms.
- Smart Money: The explosion of sports betting.
- Do you really need 20% down to buy a home?
- Parents can now open Trump Accounts.
- Video: How the Fed impacts your wallet.
- Money tips.
- ICYMI.
(Super Bowl image by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
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