The Super Bowl and gambling go together like peanut butter and jelly. For bettors of all levels, it’s a chance to watch the best teams in the NFL square off while wagering on everything from the Super Bowl coin toss to which team will cover the spread.

This year is the first time that Illinoisans can legally bet on the Super Bowl in the Land of Lincoln.

• The most well-known option for how to bet on the Super Bowl is brick and mortar sportsbooks. This might be a sportsbook attached to a casino or a stand-alone bookmaker. Either way, these in-person establishments allow you to join other patrons and make wagers face to face. Pros of in-Person Bookies.
• PointsBet is a fun option for betting on the Super Bowl. Though they are only available in a handful of States – including New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan – PointsBet offers some of the best tech in the business, with absolutely excellent customer service.
• If you placed your risk-free bet on the Chiefs your $500 bet would profit $3,000 if Kansas City followed up with another Super Bowl win in 2021. Just days after Kansas City’s Super Bowl LV loss, DraftKings Sportsbook set the Cheifs as the favorite to win Super Bowl 56.
• If you want, you can bet more or less on Super Bowl betting sites, depending on the maximum and minimum limits allowed. The ratio in place for each team for the amount bet to the amount won in return, will just be applied to the bet amount. For the most part, moneyline bets are the most conservative wager you can make on the Super Bowl.

The logical follow-up question: What can you bet on exactly?

There are currently five online sportsbooks in Illinois: DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, William Hill and BetRivers.

Each has hundreds of prop bets available, far more than any typical NFL game. The Super Bowl is always the most bet on individual game on the sports calendar.

Most Illinois sportsbooks have a similarly lengthy betting menu for the big game, though certain operators have lines available that you can’t bet on elsewhere.

And obviously, you can still make the usual bets, such as spread, moneyline, point total, first touchdown scorer, etc.

What are the odds on the Super Bowl?

Here are the current Chiefs vs. Buccaneers lines at top IL sportsbooks:

But if you’re looking for some novelty items, here are some of the highlights for Super Bowl betting in Illinois.

DraftKings Super Bowl props

At DraftKings, like the other four Illinois online sportsbooks, you can bet on the outcome of the coin toss. The standard vig for that bet is -103.

You can also bet on the coin-toss winner, whether it’s the Chiefs or Buccaneers.

Beyond the coin toss, DraftKings also has some interesting trick play specials. For example, the over/under for “players to attempt a pass” is 2.5.

So, if there is a trick play involving a running back or receiver throwing a pass or a backup quarterback has to come in, the over would hit.

DraftKings is also offering a “Fat Man TD” prop. An offensive lineman scoring a touchdown is listed at +2,000.

An offensive or defensive lineman scoring a touchdown, meanwhile, is offered at +800.

FanDuel Super Bowl props

FanDuel also offers coin-toss outcomes, and has some other fun props to consider as well.

Think the last play of the game will be a kneel down? “Yes” is currently -135 at FanDuel, while “no” is +105.

FanDuel is also offering some interesting quarterback props.

Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes throwing six touchdowns or more is offered at +1,000.

You can also bet on certain individual plays. For example, Mahomes’ first pass attempt result is offered at -200 complete, +155 incomplete or intercepted.

Brady, on the other hand, is listed at -185 complete and +145 incomplete or intercepted.

PointsBet Super Bowl props

PointsBet, like some other books, is letting users pick their own lines.

For example, let’s say you’re feeling extremely confident in the Buccaneers. You can bet them -16.5 at +650 odds, if you wish. There are various combinations available for the Buccaneers or Chiefs.

PointsBet is also offering single game teasers. For example, Chiefs +2.5 and over 50 is listed at -110.

Another fun one seen at most books: you can bet on the exact total of touchdowns scored. Currently, six is the favorite at +400 odds.

BetRivers Super Bowl props

BetRivers has many of the same props as listed above, but a few interesting wrinkles.

If you could see Andy Reid burning an early timeout, you can bet the Chiefs using the first timeout at -112. The Buccaneers are also -112.

On a related note, you can take either team to use the first challenge of the game at -112.

William Hill Super Bowl props

One fun thing about Super Bowl betting is that you can get extremely specific, if you wish.

William Hill offers the exact number of plays on the first TD drive. “Seven or eight” is the favorite, listed at +300.

A random one: what will be longer, the gross yards of the first punt, or the longest TD scored? Both are offered at -110.

One more note …

At Wednesday’s Illinois Gaming Boardmeeting, administrator Marcus Fruchter said books can offerwhat color Gatorade will be poured on the winning coach.

However, as of this writing, no Illinois books have it listed. It will be interesting to see if that changes as the big game nears.

Illinois sportsbooks also cannot offer bets on the length of the national anthem, commercials or half-time show content.

See All Guides

Looking for the easiest Super Bowl 55 bets? You’ve come to the right place.

Betting on the Super Bowl is one of the best places to begin betting on football. There are many different types of wagers available, making it a great opportunity to get the lay of the full betting landscape with a single event.

We won’t let you wander into the football betting wilderness alone, of course. We’ve developed this handy Super Bowl betting guide to help you get acquainted with NFL betting odds, generally, and lay some simple wagers on Super Bowl 55.

Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will take on Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay on February 7, 2021. Now that the match-up is set, we can use some concrete examples to make things clearer.

But first things first. Let’s start with some classification.

Types of Bets

Every football bet can be classified in one of three categories: moneyline, against the spread, and over/under.

1. Moneyline Betting

Betting on the moneyline is the easiest Super Bowl bet you can make. Quite simply, you bet on which team will win the game “straight up.” You don’t have to worry about margin of victory. If the team you bet on wins, you win your bet!

Current Super Bowl 55 Moneyline Odds

You might be saying to yourself: “That’s very simple. Why doesn’t everyone bet on the moneyline?”

Because the payout is lower if you bet on the favorite, and you don’t get the advantage of the spread if you bet on the underdog. Sportsbooks aren’t going to reward you the same way for picking a massive favorite to win. They will, however, reward you handsomely if you correctly pick an underdog.

Let’s use this year’s Super Bowl as an example again.

The Chiefs’ moneyline is -180 at the moment. (Hey, that style of number looks familiar!) That -180 number indicates that, if you bet Kansas City to win, you have to wager $180 to win $100 for a total payout of $280. The Buccaneers’ moneyline, on the other hand, is +152.

The plus-sign changes everything! When preceded by a plus-sign, the moneyline indicates how much you’ll get back if you bet $100.

So, if you wager $100 on Tampa Bay at +152 and they upset the Chiefs (by whatever score), you’ll walk away with $252 — your original $100 bet plus $152. (For all intents and purposes, the favorite is always listed at a negative number and the underdog at a positive number.)

You don’t have to wager $100, of course. You can wager any amount (though sportsbooks do have upper and lower limits). If you cut your bet in half and put $50 on the Bucs +152, you’d go home with $126 if they win — your original $50 bet plus $76 (i.e. half of $152).

2. Against the Spread

Against the spread betting (commonly abbreviated as ATS) is probably the most common type of football betting. In Super Bowl 55, the Chiefs are three point favorites over the Buccaneers. On paper, this is written out as “Chiefs (-3)” or “Buccaneers (+3)”. The three point spread means that, if you bet on the Chiefs (-3), you only win your bet if the Chiefs win by four points or more. If the Chiefs win 25-23, for example, you’re outta luck.

The flip side is that if you bet on the Buccaneers (+3), you’ll still win your bet even if the game is a tie.

If the Chiefs win by exactly three points, it’s called a “push,” and both sides get their money back.

Simple enough, right?

Bettors are often confused to see the spread change a couple of days after they’ve placed a bet. If a lot of money is being wagered on one team compared to the other, sportsbooks will shift the spread to encourage equal betting on both sides and reduce their potential for loss.

This happened just before Super Bowl 53 in 2019. When the betting lines first opened, the LA Rams were a small favorite. But so much money was immediately bet on the New England Patriots that the spread shifted all the way to Patriots (-3).

These changes do not impact any bets that have already been placed.

The payout on spread betting is typically $1 for every $1.10 you wager, but can vary within a range. You’ll often see the payout listed as “-110,” which indicates that you must bet $110 to win $100.

Use the same approach outlined above for moneyline bets to calculate your payout when betting against the spread.

3. Over/Under Betting

Over/under betting (O/U) differs considerably from spread and moneyline betting in that it doesn’t involve picking the winner. The most common over/under bet is the game total, which involves predicting the total number of points that will be scored in the game.

As of January 25, 2021, the total for Super Bowl 55 is 56.5. Bettors can opt that the game will feature more than 56.5 points (taking the over) or fewer than 56.5 points (taking the under).

If you bet the over and the Chiefs win 33-25, you win your bet since the teams combined for 58 points. (That’s more than 56.5.) If the Chiefs win 30-22, you lose everything, since the total score of 52 is less than the total set beforehand by the sportsbooks.

Like with ATS betting, the game total can and will shift over time, depending on which side is receiving the majority of the money wagered. Pushes are also possible when betting the game total. Obviously, a push can only occur when the total is not a half number.

Super Bowl 55 Prop Bets

Just like the spread, O/Us have odds specific to each side of the line, meaning the payout isn’t always equal between the over and the under. As long as the action coming in on each side is roughly even, you’re likely to see odds of -110 on the Super Bowl totals line (bet $1.10 to win $1).

Super Bowl Props

What Can You Bet On For The Super Bowl

The wager types discussed so far focus on the outcome of the game itself. The Super Bowl, however, is just as famous for its litany of prop bets. Some of these Super Bowl props can be downright bizarre, and many have nothing to do with football.

Prop bets feature any interesting propositions the sportsbooks can think of.

Prop bets touch on almost every aspect of the Super Bowl, from which team will win the opening coin toss to which player will score the first touchdown. Many of them focus on the performance of individual players. For example, who will have the most receiving yards? And how many yards will Patrick Mahomes throw for? Will Mahomes have more touchdowns than Brady?

The really fun ones have almost nothing to do with the game. Here are a few favorites from this year’s props:

• Will Bill Belichick be mentioned at least once?
• Will Blinding Lights be the first song played by The Weeknd at halftime?
• Will Tom Brady’s wife, Gisele Bundchen, be shown on TV more than 1.5 times?
• The color of the Gatorade poured on the winning head coach (orange is the favorite). Historical reference here.

Props can be constructed as moneyline or over under-style bets. Let’s look at a couple of examples to clarify.

“Who will score the first touchdown?” is a moneyline-style prop bet. Travis Kelce is currently the favorite at +600. (Remember what that plus-sign means? If you bet $100 on Kelce and he does score the first TD in the game, you’ll win $600.)

“How many songs will be played during the halftime show?” is an over/under style prop. The O/U is at 8. If seven songs are performed in total, the under will cash in. If nine lovely tunes are sung, the over wins. For a full guide on Super Bowl prop bets, be sure to check out this comprehensive guide.

Where Can I Bet on the Super Bowl?

Go look at your finances and see if you have some disposable income. If things are looking good, it’s time to explore this list for the best places to bet on NFL games online , and get in on the action!

What Can You Bet On For Super Bowl Winner