Biggest bets of Super Bowl LIV
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If you think you'll be sweating out your Super Bowl LIV bets this weekend, imagine putting six figures on the line.
That's the case for a handful of bettors ahead of Sunday's game between the Kansas City Chiefs (-1.5) and San Francisco 49ers, which will likely close as only the seventh Super Bowl with a spread shorter than three points.
The line for this year's big game hasn't moved by more than a half-point since last week, with the Chiefs giving 1 or 1.5 at nearly every book. Sharps have yet to take a real position like last year, when they moved the Patriots from 1-point underdogs to 2.5-point favorites over the Rams by kickoff.
But there's still been strong action. It's just come from both sides.
A name familiar to sports bettors is tied to the biggest wager so far. Jim McIngvale, aka "Mattress Mack," laid $1 million on the 49ers' moneyline (+120) at Las Vegas' MGM Mirage on Wednesday after publicly seeking a book to take his action at a favorable price.
That book also took a $350,000 bet on San Francisco (+105) on Saturday, the biggest moneyline bet on the underdog outside of Mack's wager. A day earlier, bets of $300,000 and $275,000 were made on the Niners at the same price elsewhere, and one of the earliest bets this year was a whopping $684,000 laid on the 49ers (+2) in New Jersey.
Without those big bets on San Francisco, we might have seen some movement in Kansas City's direction. The public has piled on the favored Chiefs, as have a handful of big-money bettors.
Outside of Mack's bet, the biggest wager was $750,000 placed Saturday at the Bellagio on the Chiefs (-1.5), which also booked $250,000 on the Chiefs' first-half moneyline from the same customer. The book originally took $550,000 on Kansas City at -1 on Tuesday, forcing it to move the line to 1.5 ahead of Saturday's massive bet.
Another Chiefs bettor laid $435,250 at -1.5 (-105) in Mississippi on Friday, which followed a stretch of big bets on Kansas City in the early days of Super Bowl wagering. The larger bets have been placed on the Niners, but there's still more money flowing in on the Chiefs at most books thanks to a handful of six-figure wagers.
The most significant decision this year is on the total, as the over is receiving five times more money at theScore Bet in New Jersey, and there's a similar ratio at other books.
Sure enough, one of the biggest bets ahead of Sunday's game is on the over, but it was made at an alternate number. An MGM Grand bettor placed a $450,000 wager (-450) on over 42.5, which is 12 points lower than where the total sits as of Saturday (54.5).
The steady stream of over money is pushing the total toward becoming one of the highest in Super Bowl history, but sharps haven't taken enough of a stance to move the spread in either direction.
Perhaps that will change after a few late bets. Otherwise, it's shaping up to be a strong Sunday for oddsmakers, regardless of the result.
"It's been one of the more static Super Bowls leading up to it," Jay Rood, Bet.Works' chief risk officer and theScore Bet's head trader, told theScore on Friday.
"Every bookmaker in the country is going to be rooting for an extremely boring game with lots of punts," he added.
C Jackson Cowart is a betting writer for theScore. He's an award-winning journalist with stops at The Charlotte Observer, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Times Herald-Record, and BetChicago. He's also a proud graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, and his love of sweet tea is rivaled only by that of a juicy prop bet. Find him on Twitter @CJacksonCowart.
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