Despite losing in the final moments, the Philadelphia Eagles participated in one of the more exciting Super Bowl games in recent times on Sunday. Kansas City prevailed by a final of 38-35 on a game-winning field goal with just a few seconds remaining.
It’s likely the game provided a new best for the Keystone State in terms of overall betting action.
Pennsylvania sportsbooks entered the weekend with fairly high expectations for where their handle could land in regards to Super Bowl wagers. Our projections initially showed this figure could land around $65 million. However, with the Eagles making it, this could easily jump to more than $80 million.
Although it’s difficult to predict, the close-fought contest probably generated more live betting than in previous Big Games, too.
The tilt was extremely competitive throughout, with the largest lead of the game reaching just 10 points. The Eagles held that lead at the half, prior to the Chiefs scoring on their opening drive of the third quarter. This scenario likely brought more betting attention than if the game became lopsided in any way.
Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl 2023 betting results
There’s a strong possibility that PA sportsbooks earned a decent chunk of change from this latest Super Bowl. Since the hometown Eagles were playing, it’s safe to say that more bettors inside PA were backing the Birds.
In fact, this was also evident for books across the US. DraftKings Sportsbook reported around noon yesterday that 66% of the bets were on the Eagles to cover the -1.5-point spread, along with 68% of the dollars wagered.
Even though this evened out slightly for the moneyline market, it’s clear there was plenty of support for Philadelphia at sportsbooks. DraftKings noted the Eagles receiving only 44% of the moneyline bets, but 49% of the handle still at -120 odds.
So, with the Chiefs win (and cover), it appears that the majority of PA sports betting apps finished the NFL season on a positive note. Of course, this is probably bad news for fans and Philly backers, though perhaps some made back money through Super Bowl props.
Winning and losing Super Bowl novelty props
There were several Super Bowl markets that saw interesting results from the public.
One of the top plays that benefitted bettors across the US was a novelty prop from DraftKings Sportsbook. It offered the option to wager on any field goal attempt (including extra points) to doink off an upright or the crossbar.
Miraculously, this happened on just the fourth drive of the game in the first quarter. Kansas City’s Harrison Butker missed a 42-yard attempt when the ball smacked the left upright and bounced out.
At DraftKings, 96% of the bets fell on the yes option for this market. This included 69% of the overall money wagered on it. At odds of +450 for yes, lots of viewers enjoyed that moment in the game.
Another celebration for the public occurred when Hurts scored both the touchdown and two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter. This fulfilled the needs to hit the octopus market, paying an incredible +1400.
An overwhelming 98% of the bets and money were placed on the yes option, compared to the no at -5000.
On the flip side of things, there was an additional DraftKings prop that didn’t work out for much of the public.
The operator provided a market that set an over/under mark of 11.5 for the jersey number for the first and last touchdowns. This meant determining the jersey number of the player who scores the opening and final scores.
Over 11.5 featured odds of +105, whereas the under was at -135 for both.
Unfortunately, the majority of bettors put money on the over for both categories. Draftkings posted that 90% of the bets and 88% of the handle went on the over for the first touchdown. These figures increase to 91% and 94%, respectively, for the over 11.5 on the Super Bowl’s last score.
Jalen Hurts, No. 1, found the end zone both times for this market, resulting in an uneven win for the sportsbook.
Sizable Super Bowl wins at Caesars Sportsbook
A total of five individuals took home at least $500,000 in single bets through Caesars Sportsbook on Sunday night.
The largest of the bunch came in through a live bet from New York. One Caesars player put $1.2 million on the over of the live game total of 62.5, winning nearly $1.1 million when the final score hit 73 points.
Another earned $500,000 by taking the over for the standard game total at 51 points prior to the start.
Two other bettors took advantage of the Chiefs’ friendly odds for sizable payouts. One snagged $880,000 on Kansas City’s moneyline at +110, with the other winning $500,000 on Chiefs +1.5.
The Eagles’ first half moneyline proved successful, as well. A separate Caesars bettor from New York netted over $787,000 from wagering on their opening half line of -0.5 at +105.
SimpleBet sees increased Super Bowl attention
As reported last week, SimpleBet entered the Super Bowl ready to offer “thousands” of flash betting opportunities.
Naturally, its boost in available markets and the growth in popularity around micro-betting brought some notable results from the Big Game.
Overall, the company accepted more than 1 million bets between all of its sports betting partners. This totaled $13 million worth of handle for the Super Bowl.
While there was plenty wagered throughout the contest, SimpleBet reported that $1.2 million of the total went directly on the Chiefs’ final drive.
As it was for most sportsbook providers, Sunday was a success for SimpleBet, producing around 47% more handle compared to last season. SimpleBet’s flash markets are currently available through DraftKings and Caesars.
FanDuel Kick of Destiny rewards bettors
One of the exciting moments fans were waiting for outside of the actual game was FanDuel’s Kick of Destiny. The operator promoted its live kick experience with former tight end Rob Gronkowski for several weeks leading up to yesterday.
Despite Gronk shanking the kick, FanDuel Sportsbook chose to still give everyone who participated their bonus bets. In total, it handed out $17 million in bonus bets just from the Kick of Destiny.
This ended up being just a portion of the overall figure FanDuel paid out on Sunday. The operator exceeded $34 million in Super Bowl bonus bets after everything finished up.
