The New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams won’t kick off Super Bowl LIII until Feb. 3, but Las Vegas sportsbooks are already prepared for the big game.
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook on Thursday night released 442 prop bets and over 1,000 ways to bet the game, with several Vegas books putting up a smaller menu of props in the previous days.
Early betting on the Super Bowl spread has been overwhelmingly on New England. Several books opened with the Rams as 1-point favorites or with the game a pick ’em on Sunday night. Those spreads lasted a mere 17 minutes before the market settled with New England as a 2.5-point consensus favorite. As of Thursday morning, MGM had taken nine five-figure bets (and two six-figure bets) on the Patriots and zero of that size on the Rams. Over 96 percent of spread money was on New England at MGM, and over 86 percent at William Hill US.
Tom Brady opened as the favorite to win the MVP at the SuperBook at even odds ($100 bet wins $100), with Jared Goff at 2-1 as the only other player in single digits. Running backs Todd Gurley II and Sony Michel have the next-best odds at 16-1. Aaron Donald (20-1) has the best odds of any defensive player.
There are plenty of less traditional ways to bet the game as well, including total touchdowns in the game (over/under 6.5) to total combined yardage of all made field goals (O/U 122.5), to who will commit the first turnover.
There are also a variety of cross-sport proposition wagers that involve other games going on before Super Bowl LIII, including Premier League contests, college basketball, NHL and NBA games.
A couple of fun ones:
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James Harden points on Feb. 2 versus longest touchdown of Super Bowl LIII (-9.5)
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Kevin Durant points on Feb. 2 (-2.5) versus Jared Goff completions
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Zion Williamson points and rebounds on Feb. 2 (-5.5) versus Patriots and Rams first-half points
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Phil Mickelson fourth-round bogeys or worse on Feb. 3 versus Josh Reynold receptions (-1.5)
The total for Super Bowl LIII is currently at 57.5. If it gets above 58.5, it would mark the highest total in Super Bowl history (58, New England vs. Atlanta in Super Bowl LI).
Last year, a record $158.5 million was bet on Super Bowl LII across Nevada sportsbooks. With eight states now offering legal sports betting after the Supreme Court’s decision in May 2018, including New Jersey, that record is expected to be shattered.