When most people think about sports betting, they think about picking the winner of a game straight up. It’s a simple way to get in the action and lets you win or lose alongside your favorite team. Super Bowl moneyline betting involves picking the team you think will win on February 12 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The NFL gamelines won’t be released until we know the two teams in play, at which point, you can make your selections on your digital bet slip in our sportsbook.
In this article, we’ll dig deep into how Super Bowl moneyline betting works, with explanations on the payout structure and insights into when adding this option to your bet slip is best depending on the Super Bowl odds. With this understanding, you’ll have a greater appreciation for moneyline betting and hopefully include it in your betting tool kit.
How Super Bowl Moneyline Betting Works
There’s no easier way to bet on a game than through the moneyline. To place this bet, pull up the game lines for any sport and you’ll see both of the teams listed one on top of the other. For North American sports, the home team is on the bottom and the visiting team is listed on top. To the right, the “WIN” column is wedged between the spread and total, and that’s where you’ll find the moneyline odds. Typically, one team is favored and the other is designated the underdog, although it’s possible for both teams to be evenly matched.
The default odds format in our sportsbook is American odds; however, you can easily switch to decimal or fractional if you prefer those formats. With American odds, the favourite has negative odds, such as -145, and the underdog has positive odds, such as +125. These odds show how much you’d win, or how much you’d need to bet to win a standard payout.
The negative odds show how much you’d need to bet to win $100, and the positive odds show how much you’d win off of a $100 bet. In our example, -145 odds would require betting $145 to win $100, and +125 would pay $125 off of a $100 bet. Bigger and smaller bets are allowed; these amounts scale up and down perfectly.
As mentioned, it’s possible for both teams to be evenly matched in a game. When this happens, both teams are listed with either -110 odds or the word EVEN in parenthesis. This means that you can pick either team and the payout will be the same: $100 on a $110 bet.
Line Movement
From open to close, there can be quite a bit of movement with the moneyline. Oddsmakers start the line at one point, and then make adjustments based on the action that comes in. A sportsbook’s goal is to take in equal bets for both sides of a bet in order to limit exposure, so in order to do this with the moneyline, the odds will shift one way or the other to encourage even betting.
For an example, we’ll use the same odds from our section above.
Team A +125
Team B -145
If lots of action comes in on Team B — the favourite at -145 — then the line may change to encourage more betting on Team A, such as the following:
Team A +135
Team B -165
If the opposite happened, with more action coming in on Team A than Team B, you may see an adjustment such as the following:
Team A +110
Team B -120
These line movements create opportunities for savvy bettors to make their pick at peak value, although it can be challenging to predict which way the lines will go. However, as a rule of thumb, teams with big fanbases generate lots of betting action, so if you want to bet on one of these teams (think Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers), it’s best to get in early. This also creates an opportunity for betting on the opponent, as they will offer excellent value when paired with a team that has a big betting market.
Keep in mind, the odds that you select when you submit your bet are the odds used to determine your payout. Any line changes that happen will not impact your selection.
Combining the Moneyline with Other Bets
If you’re looking to win a bigger payout than what’s possible with a simple Super Bowl moneyline bet, consider combining it with other bets through a parlay. When you combine bets this way, you increase the amount of money that can be won exponentially, but you’ll need to win all of the bets in the parlay for it to work. A single loss results in a lost parlay.
A natural pairing for the moneyline is the total—another straight bet. The total is a bet on how offensive/defensive a game will be. The oddsmaker posts a number that represents the theoretical total number of points scored by both teams, and the betting public can decide to bet on the actual total exceeding or coming short of the prediction. If you’re already betting on the team that you think will win, why not also bet on whether they’ll go over or under the total and combine both bets in a parlay? It’ll increase your earnings dramatically. We’ll use the same set of odds from before to illustrate the power of parlays.
Team A +125
Over 46.5 -110
If you put $50 on Team A moneyline and $50 on the over—as single bets—the most you could win would be $107.95, plus your original stake. If you parlay them together and bet $100, you’d win $329.55, plus your original stake. The risk is greater, but so is the potential payout.
Regardless of how you like to bet, there will be something for you in our sportsbook for Super Bowl LVII. We release thousands of bets for Super Bowl every year because we want to make sure everyone gets the best experience possible. Betting on the game gives you another reason to cheer if your instinct proves right.