The Seattle Seahawks had been the favorite to win the Super Bowl for over a month, but that changed yesterday. After the Denver Broncos and Seahawks won yesterday, Las Vegas opened its Super Bowl betting with Seattle as the favorite, and the bets poured in on Denver.
*** If you’re looking for a place to bet the Super Bowl online, check out our list of the top online sports books to bet the 2014 Super Bowl. ***
Within a half hour of heavy betting the Broncos became the favorite to win the Super Bowl. So how exactly did that happen?
When the line opened the were Seahawks favored by 1.5 points, and Las Vegas was immediately surprised by a lot of money being bet on the Broncos. So much was bet that they had to start adjusting the spread so that people would start betting on the Seahawks. They first moved the spread to even (meaning that neither team was favored). Then to Denver -1 and eventually to the Broncos -2 where is currently stands today.
The current Super Bowl odds are:
| Team | Line/Spread | Over/Under | Over/Under Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle Seahawks | +2 (-110) | 47½ | (-110)o |
| Denver Broncos | -2 (-110) | (-110)u |
It’s interesting that the line moved this much, especially for such a large game. One online sports book manager theorized that people were waiting to see how the spread opened, and if they liked the underdog, they were going to bet it immediately. So everyone who thinks the Broncos will win the Super Bowl, bet the spread immediately, and this caused it to move. Meanwhile everyone who wants to bet on the Seahawks with the spread didn’t bet yet, because the Seahawks were favored and they were waiting (and hoping) for a spread move so that they could bet their team as an underdog.
The total (or over/under) also moved from it’s opening. Different Las Vegas casinos opened the over/under at different amounts. The Las Vegas Hilton (which tends to be one of the sharpest sports books) open the over/under at 47 points, and it was bet up to 47.5 points within a half hour. The Wynn Casino opened the total at 48.5 points and has since lowered it to 47.5.
So what does all this line movement mean?
Well the Las Vegas and online sports books think that the Seahawks should be favored. They think they should be favored by 1.5 points, yet right now you can bet them at a few online sports book as 2.5 point underdogs. This is a 4 point swing, so if you want to bet on the Seahawks, these are great odds for you.
If you wanted to bet on the Broncos in the Super Bowl, unfortunately it looks like you’ve missed your best chance to do so. The best spread for you was when it first opened, and we won’t see the Broncos as an underdog again.
What about the money line?
You can still be on the Broncos to win the Super Bowl on the money line. You’ll have to pay a little more, but you won’t have to worry about the points.
In fact, the money line bet could be good for Seahawk bettors as well. If you think Seattle will win the game, you can bet them on the money line, and win more money than you would if you bet them with the spread.
The current money line has the Seahawks as +115 and the Broncos as -135.
How to bet on the Super Bowl?
This very question drives a lot of people to our site every year, and it’s the make reason that we created this site. There are a lot of place you can bet on the Super Bowl. Probably the most well known in Las Vegas, but you can also bet the game in most of Europe and several other places throughout the world.
Most people can’t get to Vegas or other places where sports betting is legal, so they either turn to bookies or online sports books. Bookies are never a good, safe option so we can’t recommend them here. What we do recommend is betting with a safe and well known online sports book.
Every year we rank our top online sports books for betting on the Super Bowl, and we’ll be publishing this year’s ranking very soon. We’ll also start updating our Super Bowl Prop Bets page soon, and we’ll be adding an FAQ this year to help people understand the different types of bets that they could make on the Super Bowl and the NFL in general.
It’s going to be an exciting two weeks for us here at Bet the NFL Super Bowl. We’re really looking forward to the big game, and we hope that you are too. Good Luck!
