Super Bowl LVII between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs is fast approaching. So is what will no doubt be an extremely busy night for SimpleBet, the company behind the micro-betting markets.
Ryan Keur, VP of Revenue and Trading for SimpleBet, said during the course of a NFL game, a “few thousand” flash betting opportunities are available. With numerous potential outcomes of how the next play will unfold, bettors often have seconds to figure whether Miles Sanders will run or Jalen Hurts will throw on the next play. And these are just two possibilities.
In the Pennsylvania sports betting market, the micro-betting opportunities are currently available via the DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook apps.
Keur spoke with PlayPennsylvania regarding what bettors can expect for Super Bowl Sunday.
SimpleBet eliminates waiting for the Super Bowl LVII outcome
When it comes to the SimpleBet flash betting markets, PA sports bettors do not need to worry about the pregame Eagles Super Bowl odds. Its concept presents opportunities to wager on the outcome of every single play. Plus, there are betting menus for what a specific player will do next or what will happen next. For instance, will the Eagles opening drive against the Chiefs result in a touchdown, field goal or turnover?
Keur said the odds adjust over the course of that entire drive, but people have the ability to bet at any moment within that drive on the actual occurrence.
“I think especially as we lead up into the Super Bowl, we’ve been offering these all year, and certainly for some players they’re extremely popular, is the ability to bet on each and every one of Miles Sanders’ carries.” Keur said.
One of the more popular ones has been will Miles Sanders’ next run be over/under 3.5 yards?
And after that first carry, a new bet will populate.
“I think the one that is really exciting and has gained some significant momentum throughout this playoff run is the ability to bet on every single drive, that specific drive, who the player to score the touchdown will be,” Keur said. “So, will A.J. Brown score a touchdown on this drive at +1000, has been really exciting.”
How will a Philadelphia Eagles vs. Andy Reid Super Bowl impact betting?
From a Keystone State perspective, both sides of the Big Game have strong connections to the PA market. Obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles are trying to win their second Super Bowl in six years. And on the other side of the field, there is Chiefs head coach Andy Reid who spent 14 seasons coaching the Birds.
As a result, Keur is expecting plenty of action from the Pennsylvania and Kansas markets. He noted PA is regularly within the top-10 states in terms of micro-betting handle and number of bets.
“Throughout the course of the season, we’ve seen on Eagles games specifically, Pennsylvania jumps into the top five, and that’s been reflective as well here in the playoffs. So I would envision Pennsylvania to be one of the largest states that we see coming for this upcoming Super Bowl,” Keur said.
He noted in the playoff games against the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers SimpleBet saw about 100,000 bets come through the Keystone State.
The Jalen Hurts SimpleBet market
Super Bowl LVII is the first in the young career of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. And those who watch the Birds regularly are well aware that he is a dual threat to run or pass on any given play.
Of course this makes for some very intriguing micro-betting markets every time the Eagles offense takes the field.
Keur describes every play as a roller coaster of emotions for bettors.
“You end up betting pass or you end up betting rush and Jalen drops back to pass and then it’s a broken play and he ends up scrambling for eight yards. Those bettors on both sides of the equation have went back and forth over the course of that eight-second play thinking, ‘Oh shoot, I lost.'”
But when Hurts ends up not passing, the reaction changes. “Oh my God, he’s actually going to scramble for eight and it’s going to be a rush.”
“And so, a player like Jalen who kind of keeps you guessing at all times and can turn a broken play into a big gain at any point is difficult to model for,” Keur said.
He said SimpleBet accounts for Hurts’ scramble ability especially in third-and-eight situations where Hurts ends up scrambling for 12 yards.
“You need to factor those in when thinking about all of our prices,” Keur said. “And I think that’s really what is great about our machine learning algorithms is the ability to kind of factor all those in on the front end is knowing that Jalen has that ability.”
Keur noted Hurts, Sanders and tight end Dallas Goedert tend to be the top three Philadelphia players that draw betting action, especially with the touchdown markets.
What are SimpleBet’s future PA sports betting plans
SimpleBet eventually hopes to expand its micro-betting market to additional operators besides DraftKings and Caesars.
Bet365 is expected to join the list once the PA app launches as SimpleBet already works with the NJ sports betting brand. Earlier this year, Churchill Downs Inc. announced a deal with the European-based operator to eventually replace the TwinSpires brand.
However, Bet365 could just be the next of many more SimpleBet partners.
“I do think as we head into next [NFL] season and as micro-betting becomes a category that users really are gravitating towards, you’re going to see a lot of folks really demand SimpleBet services in order to accomplish and provide for their users,” Keur said.
