The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs are set to play in the 2021 Super Bowl Sunday with kickoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. SportsbookWire has you covered with picks and predictions for all the best bets in Super Bowl LV. Below, we’ll look at the updated odds and lines for the Big Game, break down the line movement at BetMGM Sportsbook and highlight some of the biggest bets placed on Super Bowl 55.
- Sports Betting Lines College Basketball
- Sports Betting Lines Nfl
- Sports Betting Lines History
- Sports Betting Lines Handicapping
This is expected to be one of the most-heavily bet Super Bowls ever with the spreading legalization of online and mobile sports betting at legal sportsbooks in the United States.
A betting line is another terminology for point spread, which is tied to the outcome of the event. It is a forecasted prediction of how many points an anticipated stronger team will win by against a weaker team. In the betting world the stronger team is referred to as the favorite, and the weaker team is referred to as the underdog. Caesars welcomes those that are of legal casino gambling age to our website. CaesarsCasino.com is owned by Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Inc. Moving off a hook is a popular football betting scenario, as bettors can buy one point to move a -3.5 (-110) line down to -2.5 (-125) odds. While the juice rises, buying one point cashes a winning. 2 days ago This is expected to be one of the most-heavily bet Super Bowls ever with the spreading legalization of online and mobile sports betting at legal sportsbooks in the United States. Also see: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers odds, picks and prediction. 2021 Super Bowl odds and lines. Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds. College Football, Baseball and Basketball Betting Odds A money line bet is on a team to win the game outright (with no point spread) at an adjusted cost. The favorite will have negative odds, while the underdog will have positive odds. The difference here is in the prize or payout, depending on which topic.
Also see:Chiefs vs. Buccaneers odds, picks and prediction
2021 Super Bowl odds and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Saturday at 3:40 p.m. ET.
Money lineSports Betting Lines College Basketball
: Chiefs -160 (bet $160 to win $100) | Buccaneers +135 (bet $100 to win $135)Against the spread/ATS: Chiefs -3 (-115) | Buccaneers +3 (-105)Over/Under: 56.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)Special Betting Promotion!
BET $1, WIN $100 (in free bets) if the team you bet on in the Big Game wins. Offer available in CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA and WV. Place all of your legal, online sports bets at BetMGM! Terms and conditions apply. Bet on the Big Game now!
Sports Betting Lines Nfl
2021 Super Bowl line movement
Also see:Bet Slippin’ Podcast
Super Bowl spread
The Chiefs are the public’s favorite for Super Bowl 55 with 60% of against the spread bets placed on Kansas City. The Chiefs opened as 3.5-point favorites but some big bets placed on the Buccaneers have dropped the line to a flat 3 points with 52% of the 2021 Super Bowl betting handle placed on Tampa Bay.
The Chiefs still need to win by at least 4 points in order to cover the spread. A win by exactly 3 points now results in a push and all ATS bets being refunded instead of a 3-point loss counting as an ATS win for the Buccaneers.
Super Bowl Over/Under
Unlike the spread, sharps and the public are aligned with the total. BetMGM reports 66% of O/U tickets and 62% of the handle are both on the Over; however, the line has dropped from an opener of 57.5 to 56.5.
The Chiefs and Buccaneers combining to score 57 or more points is a win for those holding Over tickets on the current total and a final score adding up to 56 or fewer points is a win for the Under.
Special NFL Betting Offer
BET $1 on Buccaneers money line, WIN $100 (in free bets) if Tom Brady throws a TD pass against the Chiefs. Offer available in CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA and WV. Place all of your legal, online sports bets at BetMGM! Terms and conditions apply. Bet on Bucs now!
2021 Super Bowl notable bets
Also see:$2.3M bet placed on Bucs to cover
Sports Betting Lines History
$2.3 million to win $2 million on Buccaneers +3.5$345K to win $300K Buccaneers +3.5 (-115)$205K to win $186,363.65 Chiefs/Bucs under 56.5$180K to win $100K on Chiefs (-180) money line$115K to win $100K on Chiefs -3.5 (-115)$110K to win $100K on Chiefs -3.5 (-110)Don’t miss: Play our new, free daily Pick’em Challenge and win! Play now!
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How to Read Betting Lines
If your sports betting experience consists mostly of office pools during March Madness or a casual wager between you and a friend while you watch the Super Bowl, the transition to serious sports betting means learning how to read betting lines. The biggest difference between making the kind of casual bets mentioned above and placing wagers with online sportsbooks or at brick-and-mortar bookshops is the use of sports betting lines. Casual wagers usually involve each person in the bet picking one team to win, then wagering an equal amount, say $20 or $30. Professional bookmakers, online sports betting exchanges, and sports betting facilities in casinos have a more complex system for offering wagers on sporting events, in part to ensure profit on the part of the book, and in part to present a standardized representation of odds.
Let’s start with the basics: what do sports bettors mean when they talk about a ‘line?’ The word line, in the language of a sportsbook, can refer to either the odds and/or a point spread in any sports contest. Let’s take a look at an imaginary line the way you’d read it off the board sitting in a Vegas sports betting lounge or on the screen at your online book. Let’s imagine a game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys. Your book’s NFL betting line might look something like this:
DAL -7.5-110 -405
NYG +7.5-110 +300
56.5 ov-110
NYG +7.5-110 +300
56.5 ov-110
What may look like a jumble of words, numbers, and punctuation is actually a precise and easy-to-read breakdown of the various odds and point spread details your book is offering. Here is a breakdown of each unit of information given above. Once you understand each part of the jumbled details above, you’ll be able to read a sports betting line with confidence.
The Point Spread
Obviously, the first three letters on the top two lines of the three-line package of symbols represents a team in the game you’re wagering on; NYG stands for the New York Giants, while DAL stands for the Dallas Cowboys. The number next to each team’s name is known as the spread or the point spread. Wagers on the point spread are among the most popular sports wagers in the world. The reason this wager is popular is that it doesn’t matter which team wins or loses; what matters is the amount of points the teams score, and whether or not the team you place your money on beats the difference in points (the ‘spread’) or not.
Placing a point spread bet means gambling on how much a team will win or lose by. In our above example, the Cowboys are the favorite. How do we know that? The minus symbol in front of the point spread indicates that the bookmaker thinks the final score will have Dallas winning by 7.5 points or more. The underdog, in our example that’s the New York Giants, will always be indicated with a plus sign. If you wager on the Cowboys on the point spread, America’s Team will have to win by at least 8 points for your wager to pay off. Should the Cowboys win by less than 8 points, your bet is lost.
A wager on the Giants on the spread does not mean that New York has to win the game in order for you to win cash. All the G-Men have to do is come within 8 points of the ‘boys, and you’re a winner. You determine a winning or losing point spread by adding or subtracting 7.5 from the final score, depending on which side you laid your bet. If you’re confident that New York will at least come within a touchdown of beating the Cowboys, or beating them outright, then you’d wager on the spread in favor of New York.
A quick word on that annoying half point in the point spread – most lines you’ll come across will use half points, but it’s not standard practice across the board. When you see a line with a full number instead of a number with a half point, your wager could end up as a push. In our example, if the line were 7 instead of 7.5 and the final difference in points was exactly 7, your wager is returned to you, and neither you nor the book makes money.
What’s the function of the second number in the line?
The second number in our example (-110 for both teams) tells you how much you have to wager in order to win $100. It’s an easy way to calculate how much you’ll win if your bet pays off, presented in units of $100 at a time for simplicity’s sake. Most of the time, these two numbers will be the same, because oddsmakers want to set lines so that they get as much action on the underdog as on the favorite, guaranteeing them a profit. If a book gets a single bet of $110 (by a customer hoping to win $100) on the Cowboys and a single bet of $110 on the Giants, it will have taken in $220, but will only have to pay back $210 to whichever customer wins the bet. That’s a guaranteed profit of $10, and since sportsbooks take far more than a single bet in either direction, they stand to earn that seemingly small amount of profit many times over. The $10 difference between what you wager and what you win is known as juice or vig in the sports betting industry, and it’s the way books earn their bread and butter.
What does the last number in the line mean?
The last number in the top two rows of our sports line example is known as the money line. If you’re not interested in betting on the point spread, you can wager on a team to win outright. The plus sign next to the underdog (in our case, the Giants) indicates how much money you’ll earn for every $100 you bet on the money line. Conversely, the minus sign next to the favorite’s line tells you how much you have to wager in order to win $100. In our example, a $100 wager on the Giants earns you $300 should they pull off the upset, while a bet of $405 on the Cowboys will net you an extra $100. Representing odds in units of $100 makes placing different size bets easy; if you want to bet $10 on the Giants, you stand to earn $30 if they win, while a $40.50 bet on the Cowboys will net you an additional $10.
What does the bottom row of numbers and letters mean?
Sports Betting Lines Handicapping
The final line of information in our example line is the over-under. Wagers placed on the over-under have nothing to do with which team wins or the difference between the points they score, but rather the combined number of points both teams will score in the game.
The first number (56.5 in our sample line) is the book’s predicted total score, while the second number (110 in our Giants/Cowboys rivalry game) is how much a punter has to bet in order to win $100. If you were to bet the over-under on this game, you’ll have to decide whether you think the combined score of both teams will be higher or lower than the number put up by the book. Let’s say you bet the over, assuming the game will be a shootout between two talented offenses, you’re hoping that the final score will be anything that totals 57 or more. It could be Dallas 54, New York 3, or any other point combination that adds up to 57 or more and your bet will win. Betting the under means that the two teams cannot score more than 56 points combined, or else you lose your bet.
The first number (56.5 in our sample line) is the book’s predicted total score, while the second number (110 in our Giants/Cowboys rivalry game) is how much a punter has to bet in order to win $100. If you were to bet the over-under on this game, you’ll have to decide whether you think the combined score of both teams will be higher or lower than the number put up by the book. Let’s say you bet the over, assuming the game will be a shootout between two talented offenses, you’re hoping that the final score will be anything that totals 57 or more. It could be Dallas 54, New York 3, or any other point combination that adds up to 57 or more and your bet will win. Betting the under means that the two teams cannot score more than 56 points combined, or else you lose your bet.
Reading sports betting lines becomes easier with practice and experience with different sporting events. What looks like a jumble of letters and numbers actually gives a lot of information in a tiny amount of space. Different sports have different types of wagers available, such as the run line in baseball or the puck line in hockey, both of which replace the money line found in our football example. The more experience you have watching and gambling on different sports, the faster you’ll be able to read betting lines.