Super Bowl QBs get the most attention from proposition bettors
One of the main storylines of Super Bowl LI was the battle of the quarterbacks — New England’s Tom Brady vs. Atlanta’s Matt Ryan — and it lived up to the hype, both on the field and at the betting windows of Las Vegas sports books.
Brady’s and Ryan’s appeal was reflected in the proposition betting on the game. There were dozens of props tied to the two quarterbacks and with both well-known to football fans and Brady’s celebrity known to casual fans, too, they figured to get the majority of the action.
After Ryan and his Falcons had the upper hand for the better part of three quarters Sunday, it was the battle-tested Brady who rallied the Patriots in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 28-28, then win it in the first-ever overtime in Super Bowl history, 34-28.
“We don’t have the final figures but it looked like it was a healthy part of the handle,” Station Casinos’ Sports Book Director Chuck Esposito said of the percentage of prop wagers. “We had more props than ever before and the quarterback props were very popular and the guests did well on those. The house did well with the running back and wide receiver props.”
Jay Kornegay, director of the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, said: “Our prop handle was way up. The bettors always bet on the star players but where we got hurt were on the unusual things — the defensive touchdown, the missed extra point, the made 2-point conversion, overtime. Those bets were all plus money.”
For Brady, who was the 4-5 favorite to win Most Valuable Player honors, the one prop bet that stood out was whether either Brady or Ryan would break Kurt Warner’s Super Bowl record for passing yards. Warner had 414 and Brady broke it in regulation with 416 and finished with 466 after taking the Patriots into the end zone after winning the coin toss to start OT.
Station Casinos had the Warner record prop at plus 400 for yes and minus-600 for no. It also had whether there would be overtime at plus 650 for yes and minus-1000 for no.
At the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, OT was plus 700 for yes and minus-1100 for no.
But there were other Brady-Patriots prop bets that hit. New England converted on fourth down, which was plus 125 at Station. The Pats had a successful two-point conversion, which was worth plus 270 at the Westgate. New England also scored four straight times, which as a bet at the Westgate was plus 210 for yes.
Ryan also paid his backers. He led the Falcons to three straight scores — that was worth minus-240 at Station. But he wasn’t able to finish what he started and wound up with 284 passing yards and two TDs. His fourth-quarter fumble led to a New England score as Brady was closing the gap.
There were lots of other attractive wagers. The crossover bets continue to be popular fun plays for the fans and one of them was a strictly Boston prop that had the Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas’s total points against the Los Angeles Clippers (28) plus 2 1/2 vs. the total points scored by the Patriots (34) minus 21/2.
There was another Thomas/Pats prop bet: Thomas’ made 3-pointers against the Clippers (3) vs. Brady’s TD passes (2) with Bradly at plus 1 1/2.
In soccer, there was the total corner kicks in the Manchester United-Leicester City match (13) vs. the number of points scored by both team’s kickers (10) as to who had more.
Finally, there was one prop that whoever bet and wins on won’t be able to cash until Super Bowl LI has long been in the books. At the Westgate, you could bet whether the Vegas Golden Knights would have more points in their inaugural NHL season than Atlanta running back Devonta Freeman would have rushing yards.
Freeman finished with 75 yards on the ground. But if you bet the Knights, you had to lay 20 1/2 points. That means the Knights are going to have to finish with 96 points. And you won’t know if you won until sometime in April 2018.
Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.