Super Bowl Betting

Also there are scores of people that will run around town searching for proposition bets trying to find an edge. Some sportsbooks offer wagers on which team will win the coin toss. Another prop that garners a great deal of attention is will either team score in the last two minutes of the first half. You'll have to lay a price, but usually there is a score. There are literally hundreds of different exotic wagers available. It's a buffet for the bettor.

In New Orleans it's the Mardi Gras. In Las Vegas it's the Super Bowl! For years Al O'Donnell has been the guy that many people look to for Super Bowl trends. Each year before the season begins Al publishes "The Pointspread Playbook", and football bettors around the country gobble up copies to help them battle the bookmaker. The statistics below are courtesy of Al O'Donnell. For info: Call Al at 1-847-398-7508.

Although the NFC franchises have won 3 of the past 5 Super Bowls, the AFC has the pointspread edge 3-0-2.When last year's game stayed Under the number it snapped a three game Over run. In the entire history of the Super Bowl the AFC has won the game straight-up 14 times, the NFC 20 times. The NFC has covered the pointspread a total of 17 times, the AFC 14 times, and there were 3 ties. The team that was the favorite in the game won the game outright 23 times and lost 11 times. Also, the favorites record against pointspread stands at 18-13-3.

For you folks that like to bet totals the records only go back to 1982. Before that totals weren't a major or even minor part of our wagering landscape. Since 1982 there have been 12 overs, 6 unders, and one push.

Obviously there is a great deal more to cashing a winning ticket than just blindly betting. Keep in mind that this one game will be analyzed ad nauseum.

Here are a couple of tips that over the years have helped many sports bettors. If you like the favorite bet early, if you like the underdog wait awhile. If you normally bet $25 to $100 a game during the regular season, don't get too crazy and bet 10 to 20 times your normal wager. The Super Bowl is fun to watch, and fun to bet on, but betting wise it's not that great of an opportunity to find an edge. There are many better opportunities on a normal Sunday during the regular season.

As Always…Good Luck!