By MARK ANDERSON, Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III is at the center of proposition bets drawing strong action as the Seahawks prepare to meet the New England Patriots in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
BetMGM Sportsbook has taken a large amount of money on Walker to go over 20 1/2 receiving yards and under 72 1/2 rushing yards.
Walker surpassed that receiving yardage total in both playoff games and in four of his past five games including the regular season. He reached the rushing total in three of those.
The rushing yards prop bet opened at 78 1/2 yards.
“That is the most-bet under for any prop across the board,” said John Ewing, BetMGM’s PR media insights manager. “Usually, players tend to want to wager on positive outcomes, but this is one situation where the rushing yard prop has come down quite a bit.”
Hitting pay dirt
Walker is a popular bet at DraftKings Sportsbook as well. He is +350 to score the game’s first touchdown and -195 to hit the end zone at any time.
Wagers on touchdowns by several players are proving popular for DraftKings bettors.
“That’s one prop that’s taking a lot of action,” said Johnny Avello, DraftKings director of race and sportsbook operations. “And it usually does take a lot of action during the year. It doesn’t surprise me that’s probably going to be the biggest prop of anything for the Super Bowl.”
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the +550 favorite to score the first TD and -110 to score a touchdown any time. Teammate Cooper Kupp holds 14-1 odds to score the first touchdown.
No lack of choices
Super Bowl bettors have plenty of options. They can wager on everything from whether there will be a safety to if the game will go into overtime to who will be named MVP.
A sportsbook typically will offer more than 1,000 prop bets, though many are variations of the same base wager. Each quarterback, for example, will have different odds posted on whether he might pass for at least 200, 250 or 300 yards.
“Caesars helped ignite the Super Bowl prop betting craze back in the 1980s,” said Craig Mucklow, Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading. “This is our most comprehensive and diverse prop menu ever.”
Avello said posting so many different props isn’t as challenging as it sounds.
“It’s because we do it every Sunday on every single game,” Avello said. “We have our model and we just plug in the teams that are new to the players and everything to do with that particular game. We’ve had a lot of these props up since Sunday night two Sundays ago.”
Different rules for different states
Some states will take a sportsbook’s full slate of prop bets, but others have laws restricting what can be wagered on.
Not all states allow bets on whether the coin toss will come up heads or tails. Only a handful permit betting on what color Gatorade will be splashed on the winning coach.
“What BetMGM is focused on are props that happen on the field, so that takes away any of the ambiguity,” Ewing said. “That’s why most props are ones most bettors are used to.”
Offshore sportsbooks and predictions markets don’t play by the same rules and can offer many subjective props, such as the length of the national anthem. That is not allowed in the U.S. for numerous reasons. The time that the song begins and ends can be interpreted differently, and there is also the possibility that bettors could have inside information about the performance.
Bettors backing the Seahawks
For those making traditional bets on the outcome of the game, the Seahawks are consensus 4 1/2-point favorites.
“Right now, we have a majority of the action on the Seahawks’ spread, which is the most-bet market,” Ewing said. “The Seahawks on the future market is our only liability remaining, so we are going to be cheering for the Patriots to maybe pull the upset or at least keep it close.”
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