The Super Bowl is one of the most wagered events in the world just behind the World Cup and Champions League with 200 million bets being placed on Super Bowl Weekend alone. For being the least practiced sport around the world those numbers speak for themselves. People who do not even follow the NFL like to bet on the Super Bowl for either the money making opportunity or the thrill, but we promise one thing…
Once you bet on the Super Bowl you will enjoy the game like never before.
Betting on the Super Bowl turns a viewer into a player who has a a trophy by the end of the match. So follow these simple steps to learn how to bet on the Super Bowl 2016 and a few other tips to win betting on the Super Bowl.
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How to Place a Super Bowl Bet?
If you are from the US you have two options, travel to Vegas were gambling at a casino is legal, find another state were gambling is legal or place an online bet. The USA is very strict when it comes to online gambling regulations and unwary bettors can get their transactions frozen if they place a bet with the wrong sportsbook.
But worry not! American’s can place online bets safely and legally if they choose local sportsbooks or international ones that comply with USA regulation.
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Sportsbooks that are legal to use in the US and accept American players:
- SportsBetting
- BetOnline
- GTBets
- 5Dimes
- Bovada
International players can enjoy the most popular online sportsbooks like:
- Bet365
- Winner Sports
- William Hill
Open an account with any of the previous sportsbooks and deposit some funds using a credit card or e-wallet like Skill and Neteller. Most sportsbooks have several banking options to deposit funds, especially for UK bettors.
Tip: Before opening the account and save some time contact the Live Chat Support and ask them if they accept players from your country, the bonus you want to use and deposit limits. Many countries like India might be accepted but have some restrictions, especially when it comes to withdrawing winnings.
What other things will you need to open a sportsbook account?
The process is mostly self-explicable; fill in your personal info and submit some documents. The documents are usually what users struggle the most as bettors tend to be young and living with their parents… still. You will be required to submit your ID and a home bill under your name and home address. Both of these documents are to proof your identity.
If you do not have any home bill under your name contact the sportsbook´s support live chat, they usually solve this issue fast asking for another document that might validate your identity.
Claiming a Super Bowl Bonus
If this is your first time opening a Sportsbook´s account you are eligible for a first time Welcome Bonus.
Welcome Bonuses or First Deposit Bonus are promotions almost all sportsbooks give to new customers in order to entice opening an account with them. Newer sportsbooks tend to give the biggest Welcome Bonuses for the Super Bowl, and they go from 50% to 100% or even 300% of whatever amount you decide to deposit.
These welcome bonus come with several restrictions and conditions that new players should know how to handle. First of all, do not think they are just giving away free money, because they aren´t. To be able to withdraw any winnings made from bets after claiming the bonus a player is usually required to bet from 20x to 50x the deposit + bonus amount.
For example, if you claimed a 100% bonus for a $100 deposit and it has a 20x requirement then:
$200 x 20x = $4,000
*That means you need to wager $4,000 to be able to withdraw winnings after claiming a bonus. And 20x is a low requirement, the industry standard is 25x-30x, but the higher the bonus the higher the requirement.
This does not mean accepting bonuses and promotions for football betting is a trick, it means you will need to keep on betting after the Super Bowl. There are also other small details in the requirements new bettors should take care from:
- Don´t bet on the Super Bowl and wait months to place the next perfect bet, you need to wager consistently of the bonus and its winnings can expire.
- If you win big do not try to place small bets in order to fulfill the betting requirements. The terms and conditions of most sportsbooks call this practice a “trick”.
- Betting systems are also banned on the requirements, but don´t mid this. If you have a system use it.
How to Use a Super Bowl Betting Bonus the Right Way
After reading about the terms and conditions of claiming a Super Bowl bonus do not get disheartened. Players just need to learn how to use them the right way, keep placing football and other sport bets constantly, but make sure they are Value Bets.
Value Bets are well analyzed bets that guarantee a nice payout and high percentage of winning it.
The best way to understand Value Bets is explaining what they are not:
- A Value Bet is not a prediction on the most probable winner.
- A Value Bet does not give a payout inferior to your wager.
Value Bets do not focus on which is the best prediction to win, it focuses on which bet will give a high return for every buck invested. This is the way professional Sport Bettors make a living.
Super Bowl 2016 Value Bet
The Seahawks began as favorites to win the Super Bowl 2016 in the Futures market. Placing a bet on the Seahawks would be going with the crowd, and the crowd base their expectations on recent past results. They tend to be right 30%, and that is a true statistic. But the Seahawks are not the Value Bet of Super Bowl 2016.
The Broncos are the Super Bowl Value Bet of 2016.
Yes, the Dallas Cowboys. To win the Super Bowl they have to beat one of the biggest contenders, the Seahawks in the NFC Championship. The Cowboys are the Value Bet of Super Bowl 2016 not because they have the highest chance of winning but because if they are ever to win a Super Bowl they are in the best of shape to do so in the 2015-2016 season. Last season they reached the NFC Championship and lost by a small margin to the Seahawks. The Cowboys might be a little under the Hawks performance, but compare that to the value betting on the Cowboys has to offer:
Dallas Cowboy started out with odds of 12 to 1 in the Super Bowl Future bets at 12 to 1, that is $12,500 in payout for a $100 wager.
A risk worth taking when they are if not the strongest, one of the strongest teams to contend for the Super Bowl.
Types of Super Bowl 2016 Bets
Placing a straight forward bet on who will win the Super Bowl is called the Money Line. There are other common betting types like the point spread, prop bets and one that should interest bettors before the Super Bowl is the future bet. Here is an explanation of the most common types of Super Bowl bets:
Money Line: A straight forward bet on who the winner of the Super Bowl will be. Money line bets pay higher than point spread but lower than other exotic bets.
To place a Money Line bet wait for a couple days before the Super Bowl begins and come back to read what our betting analysts have to say. Your selection would have to be the favorite to win.
Point Spread: The point spread is similar to the money line, with the difference that some points are added by the sportsbook to the final score, whatever that might be. The name, “point spread”, means just that, points are added to the final result. The point spread will always be in reference to one of both teams playing the Super Bowl, for example:
Patriots vs Seahawks, and you take the point spread Seahawks +3.5
By taking this point spread you can only win the bet if the Seahawks win the game or lose by less than 3 points. The point spread gives bettors an edge to bet on the loser compared to the money line, as bets on a team that ended-up losing can still be winners if they are in the point spread.
Point spread bets are usually written down with a .5, like the above example. That is to avoid draw conflicts when the score results end up Patriots 20 Seahawks 23 (23 – 3 points = 20). If this were the final score you lose the bet.
The opposite would be the point spread Patriots -4.5
This means that the Patriots need to win a 5 point advantage or more to win the bet, as 4.5 points will be deducted from their final score, if the score ends-up being lower than the Seahawks you lose the bet.
The point spread takes some time to getting used to but it is fairly simple after you use it the first time. It simply adds or deducts points to either team trying to even the odds.
Bettors should use the point spread on the Super Bowl when one of these two scenarios apply:
- One team is likely to lose but not from a wide margin.
- The other team is likely to win by a wide margin.
Over / Under: Over and Under bets are two different types of bets and do not focus on who will win the match but rather on the final score.
Over bets give out a final added score by the two teams playing the Super Bowl. Let’s say the Patriots score 20 and the Seahawks 23 = Total Score is 43. If we selected an Over bet of 40.5 we would have won this bet.
Under bets are the complete opposite, the final total score should be under the Under Bet, in this case if we had selected an Under 40 and the final total score resulted in 43 we would have lost the bet.
Bettors should play the Over/Under for Super Bowl 2016 depending on the season stats of both contenders. If both are offensive teams then a high total score should be expected. If one team is the NFL best offense and the other the best Defense, like Super Bowl 2015, then an Under bet could be more enticing. Although bettors should analyze individual players and their current stats. For Super Bowl 2014 Manning was expected to be a star quarterback, but he was in the worst of his shape due to age and he underperformed. An excellent opportunity to play the Under with a great payout.
*In American Football Over/Under bets can be for the game total score, but individual team Over/Under are also common.
Prop Bets: Super Bowl fans love prop bets most than any other as it has become some type of American tradition. Prop bets can be of two kinds, game related or non-game related.
Game related prop bets: These are side bets on events that occur during the game itself and are phrased as questions.
- Will the Seahawk quarterback make a touchdown in the first quarter?
- The total faults in the Super Bowl will be higher than 10
- The coin toss will be heads.
Non-game related prop bets: These are silly bets that focus on the half time show or the Super Bowl Commercials.
- The half time performer will come out wearing a hat
- The Doritos Commercial will be voted as #1
There really isn´t a strategy for playing prop bets, mostly bettors play them for fun. Sometimes you might catch an easy prop bet if you know the half time performer well, or individual player stats to know how he will react against his opponents.
Future Bets: Future bets for the Super Bowl are bets placed months before Super Sunday. If you desire to place a future bet then read our article of which picks are hot for a Super Bowl 2016 Future Bet.
Super Bowl 2016 Predictions and Betting Tips
Now that you know how to place a Super Bowl bet, make the best of it by following our betting tips just by subscribing to the newsletter. Get NFL weekly tips for free on your email or y following us on Facebook, Twitter and Google +.
Edward Russo is our in house professional bettor, he will be giving his personal advice entirely for free.