How to Bet on the Super Bowl – Complete Guide to Super Bowl Betting

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in America’s sporting calendar. In 2023, 50.4 million adults in the US were estimated to bet on the game, which equates to 20% of the population, and $16 billion.

It’s the culmination of the NFL season, and in this guide we’ll show you how to bet on the Super Bowl. We’ve also included information on how the Super Bowl works, the types of bets you can place, betting strategies, and the best Super Bowl betting sites.

Example of a Super Bowl Bet

Accessibility for betting on the Super Bowl is huge. All online betting sites will have coverage in some form, but it’s worth noting that some will cover it better than others.

Super Bowl bets are generally split into two categories. The first is the futures market, where you bet on the winner before the game starts, and the second is the game market, where you dive into bets once the lineup has been confirmed.

The process of placing a game bet is the same as you would find for any NFL matchup, and in our guide on how to bet on the NFL, we’ve covered this process in depth. For the purpose of this example, we’ve chosen the futures market, where we’ll bet on the winner prior to the start of the game.

Most betting sites will have dedicated sections for the Super Bowl within the main NFL section. As you can see with BetOnline, they have a section separate from the NFL, and you can see all of the live Super Bowl bets.

For this example, we’ve bet on the Kansas City Chiefs, priced at +600, to win the Super Bowl. To the right of the image above, you can see that our bet slip includes our pick and the $100 stake we want to place on the bet. This highlights that when betting $100, you win $600.

Other futures bets accessible at the start of the season include matchups and forecasts. These are bets where you predict the winner of the NFC and AFC to see who will make the Super Bowl. Forecast bets are tougher as you’ve got to predict the two teams to make the final and which team will win. The odds are long for both, but it can be good fun.

Want to bet on the Super Bowl today? Sign up with BetOnline.

How to Bet on the Super Bowl – Step-by-Step

As part of our guide on how to bet on the Super Bowl, we’ve created a step-by-step process for creating an account and then placing a bet. For this, we’ve used BetOnline, which we rate as the best betting site for Super Bowl betting.

1. Open an account

Click on the green “Join” button at the top of the page to get started. This will initiate the signup process.

2. Create an account

You will be asked to enter your email address, username, and password. Working through this process will ask you for personal information such as name, address, phone number, and date of birth.

3. Log in and deposit

Once your account has been verified and set up, head back to the sportsbook to log in and go to the cashier to deposit. The range of deposit methods will vary based on your location.

4. Choose NFL

Use the navigation bar on the left in the sportsbook to find “NFL.” A range of headings will be at the top of the page and you’ll need to scroll along to find the Super Bowl markets. Click this, and it will highlight all the upcoming bets. As the game draws nearer, the number of markets will gradually increase.

5. Place a bet

To place a bet, click on the odds to load your bet slip. Use the “Wager” section to choose your bet amount. The “To Win” box will show the amount you will win based on your stake. Click the “Confirm” button at the bottom of the bet slip to place the bet. All live bets can be tracked within the account section.

How the Super Bowl Works

The Super Bowl is the highlight of the main NFL season. It includes the best two teams from the AFC and NFC who battle to be crowned champions. In this section of our guide on how to bet on the Super Bowl, we outline how the Super Bowl works, including the process of getting to finals.

NFL Season

The regular season starts in September and is made up of 32 teams in total. These teams are divided into the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).

Each conference is then split into four more divisions: the North, South, East, and West of each section. Each team plays 17 regular season games and aims to qualify for the playoffs.

Playoff Qualification

There are 14 teams that qualify for the playoff rounds. This includes the eight divisional winners from each conference, then three wild cards from each division. The top two seeds (highest ranked from the AFC and NFC) receive a bye into the second week.

Playoff rounds

There are three playoff rounds in total leading up to the Super Bowl:

• Wild Card Round – This includes the teams ranked two to four in each conference and the three wild cards.
• Divisional Round – The top two seeds return to the mix and play the lowest-ranked team from each conference. Overall, there are four divisional winners versus four wild card winners.
• Conference Championship – This includes the winners of the two Divisional rounds of games from the AFC and NFC. They will each be crowned conference champions and earn the right to play in the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl

The Super Bowl is the season’s last game and declares the NFL’s overall winner. The build-up to the game is huge, with a two week break between the Conference Championship for teams to prepare and the fanfare to start.

Games are played at a pre-determined venue, usually set up to five years in advance. One of the teams can be playing at a home stadium, which has been the case as recently as 2020 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The game has to be finished on the day, and there are no ties. Overtime is used where needed, and rules are adjusted to make a tie impossible.

What’s so captivating about the Super Bowl is that it’s more than just a one-off football game. Everything from the half-time show that attracts the best music artists in the world, to the parties, commercials, post-game celebrations, and the infamous Vince Lombardi trophy awarded to the winners.

Bet on the 2023/24 Super Bowl today with Bovada.

2023/24 Schedule

The table below outlines the schedule for the 2023/24 season.

Types of Super Bowl Bets

To know how to bet on the Super Bowl, you need to know the range of markets you can access. The vast majority will be bets you can place on most NFL games, but with the Super Bowl being unique, there are special bets added just for this game.

• Moneyline – The moneyline is where you bet on the team to win the game. This will include overtime and regular as part of the same bet. There are no handicaps applied, and it’s often referred to as a “straight” bet.
• Point Spread – The point spread is a handicap applied to both teams. The favorite will have points dedicated to their final score, and the underdog will have points added. The handicapper (sportsbook) tries to make it so that it’s an even playing field with odds priced just under even money to take into account the juice charged.
• Over/Under (Totals) – The over/under market is where you bet on the total number of combined points scored in the game. The sportsbook sets a line, and the player chooses over or under that line.
• Futures – Futures markets are where bets are placed a set amount of time before the start of the game. With the Super Bowl, this can be as far as a year in advance and usually on the overall Super Bowl winner.
• Prop Bets – The prop bets section comes alive with the Super Bowl and includes “everything else.” This might be things like the first team to score, the first scoring play type, the first player to score a touch, or even the time to sing the national anthem.
• Player Prop Bets – These prop bets are all player-related. It might include the most valuable player (MVP) for the game, the player with the most rushing yards, the number of receptions by a certain player, or the total yards thrown by each quarterback.
• Parlay Bet – A parlay bet combines multiple singles into one bet. For the Super Bowl this needs a sportsbook that includes same-game parlays. An example might be a team to win over a set number of points in the game, a set number of touchdowns, and a set number of rushing yards for one of the players. The more picks you include, the bigger the odds, but the harder the bet becomes to win.
• Teaser – A teaser includes two or more picks with an adjusted line in the player’s favor. For example, if the point spread is set at seven, if you “Tease” the bet to move the line to eight and include another market, the sportsbook will allow this.
• Live Betting – Live betting is where you bet on the game once it’s started. Depending on the sportsbook will depend on the types of bets you can place but usually include moneyline, points spread, and totals as a bare minimum. These markets will change as the game progresses and might include the likes of the next scoring play or the next player to get a first.
• Special and Novelty Bets – These types of markets are never more popular than they are with the Super Bowl. They can get creative, such as betting on the coach to get covered in Gatorade, how long the halftime show will be, if the head coach cries on TV, the length of the national anthem, and even the pre-game coin toss.

Super Bowl Betting Tips and Strategies

To make money betting on the Super Bowl, you need a solid strategy. Given that this is a one-off game it’s not always the easiest to find value compared to the regular season and playoffs.

As part of our guide on how to bet on the Super Bowl, we’ve included a range of tips and strategies that you can apply to the game.

1. Bet Early to Get the Best Lines

There are two weeks from the end of the conference game to the start of the Super Bowl. The hype around the game is huge and only gets bigger as it draws nearer.

Most recreational bettors will bet on the day of the game and this is usually when we see the lines start to move the most. If you wait this long, you risk paying a premium for markets, such as the points spread, and totals, as sportsbooks try and balance the books.

Sharp bettors look to bet early to get the best possible lines. By betting early, you’re not betting against the volume of bets, but instead on opinion. It’s best if you have a plan to execute this, but as soon as bets go live, try and work out what holds the best value. The later you leave it, generally, the more you’ll pay.

For example, the spread might open at five points, and the favorite at -5 offers good value. As more people pick up on this through the week, the volume of stakes placed may cause the sportsbook to move the line to -6 or even higher, making it much tougher to cover.

A good tip for this is to compare betting sites. Some sites will move earlier than others but there’s a good chance others will soon follow. If you see the line move with one sportsbook see if you can get the original line with a different one before it moves.

2. SWOT Analysis

Businesses often use SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis to make their business more efficient. They look at what’s working, what’s not, and how they can improve from there.

We can take this approach with betting, especially for one-off games like the Super Bowl. We need to work out where each team is, strong and weak.

An easy place to start is simply seeing if the team is better offensively or defensively. Are they scoring lots of points but still conceding lots? Have past games been narrow wins? Are they blowing teams out of the park?

Simply looking at past results will allow you to see where one team might have the advantage over the other. Given that they’ve both made it this far, there’s a good chance the teams will be evenly matched, but it’s rare for both to have identical playing features.

If you see that both teams excel in the offence, you need to look at markets such as the over in the totals. Teams that have run the ball a lot will cover the market with the most rushing yards. Create a SWOT analysis for both teams and see where the mismatches are to create more informed bets.

3. Value Can be Hard to Find

The Super Bowl is more a celebration than a way of making money. A lot of professional bettors don’t bet on the game at all and instead, just enjoy the spectacle. The reason being that finding value from the game is hard.

There are so many eyes on the Super Bowl, and last year over $16 billion was wagered in the US alone. Sportsbooks are on the ball, for the most part, so finding that huge value bet is much harder than with regular season games that can go a little under the radar.

There’s always money to be made but don’t get too frustrated if you can’t find a lot of value. Use the Super Bowl to bet on some fun markets, such as same-game parlays, random proposition bets, and even teasers. Keep bets small and enjoy the game as much as anything.

4. Create a Narrative

A key betting strategy that should be used in all sports is to create a narrative. This is where you sit down and determine the most likely possibility of how the game will play out.

It might include a range of storylines, but note things like how teams start and finish, which players will be key to success, and how willing the coach might be to roll the dice (an eventuality often overlooked).

From this, your story can lead into a range of bets you’ve never considered. For example, if you think that one team will come out firing and have the first drive, take a look at markets that include them for the first score, or the player to score the first points.

If you’ve got two teams that’re incredible on defence but limited in attack, see which markets will be best for low-scoring affairs. The totals (under) will always offer value here, but you can parlay that bet with other markets to boost those odds slightly.

5. Bank on the Quarterback for MVP

Since the Super Bowl started handing out MVP awards in 1967, the breakdown of positions that have won looks like this:

As you can see there’s a huge emphasis on the quarterback winning here, scooping 10 from the last 15 Super Bowls. The odds will also reflect this, but this is a good alternative market to some, such as the moneyline.

For example, moneyline markets are going to be competitive, but if you think about it, the MVP is almost always going to come from the winning team, and even a mediocre QB display will likely be enough (way too many times the WR and RB have been robbed in favor of a QB getting the award).

It may be the case that instead of betting on the moneyline, you take the QB for MVP. This will pay more money and, while it includes a little more risk, will be a solid bet, assuming you think that team will win anyway.

Ready to access QB betting markets? Check out BetNow.

Most Successful Super Bowl Winners

The Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots are the most successful Super Bowl teams, with six wins each. The pair have dominated at different times, with the Patriots dominating across the 2000s and the Steelers throughout the seventies.

Other notable teams include the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers with five wins each, and the New York Giants and Green Bay Packet with four wins each.

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