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Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) February 4, 2011

The days in which the betting action was confined to strictly the point-spread and over/under are now a distant memory. Today the proliferation of proposition choices has turned the Super Bowl into a gamblers’ dream with enough options to give even one of Charlie Sheens black books a run for the money.

‘Prop’ bets originated in the early 1980′s as a whim and now provide an expansive wagering menu which ties in to individual players, team performance, and specific events that occur within the game, or in the case of the coin toss or duration of the national anthem, ones immediately preceding it. Variations of the point spread and total are also available.

For example, while the Packers have settled in as a 2.5 point favorite, a bettor that anticipates a Green Bay blowout could choose to lay more points in exchange for better odds. A Packer backer would be rewarded with a payoff of 5 to 1 if he or she were correct in their prediction that Green Bay would prevail by more than 14 points.

In recent years, prop wagers have taken on such a creative flavor, that they now link other sporting events taking place in and around the Super Bowl to players, stats, and events in the big game itself.

The Hilton features over 50 different wagers involving individual players and/or team performance of this years participants tied into other sporting events including 3 of the 4 NBA Contests, 3 NHL Games, a pair of European Soccer matches, college basketball, as well as the Phoenix Open and Qatar Masters Golf Tournaments all of which take place that very same day.

As an example, fans of Notre Dame hoops can get their day off to an early start by wagering that the Irish point total in their game against Rutgers will exceed Pittsburgh receiver Mike Wallace yardage total by more than 7 and a half. Fans of the NBA might be enticed by any number of props including LeBron James point and assist total combined up against the distance of the first successful field goal. The Heat are matched up against the Clippers Sunday in a game that is likely to conclude about 4 hours prior to the kickoff of Super Bowl XLV.

Other sports books also feature their own renditions of creativity when it comes to prop wagering. The Venetian is offering Throw Back Props, which takes the performance of this Sundays quarterbacks and puts them up against the opposing teams signal callers of yesteryear.

One such wager has current Packer QB Aaron Rodgers final passing yardage versus that of Terry Bradshaws total of 318 back in Super Bowl 13, a 35 to 31 Steelers victory over the Cowboys, which at the time was their 3 rd NFL Championship. One would have to spot Rodgers 42.5 yards if he or she were to back Bradshaw while a supporter of Rodgers could see him come up short by that number or less and still cash a winning ticket.

As props vary from venue to venue, and are often times created by innovative managers striving to set their book apart from the competition, the number of props that are available has grown each year, today exceeding 500 in number when accounting for Nevada and offshore outlets.

This year, sports books are reporting that prop betting has increased as a percentage of the total handle which is likely due to the competitive nature of this game resulting in some indecision on the part of bettors.

As of Tuesday evening, Harrahs properties, which includes Caesars Palace, Ballys, Planet Hollywood and Paris amongst others, are virtually split on side action as bettors are undecided when it comes to a clear cut winner. One has to look back Super Bowl 16 almost 30 years ago, when Joe Montana and the 49ers held off the Bengals by a score of 26 to 21, to find a point spread that closed at less than a field goal at the time of kickoff which this Sundays game is poised to do.

The sheer size of the prop menu will create betting opportunities, as the more options that the lines makers make available, the more prone he is to an oversight or miscalculation.

A classic example of that occurred in Super Bowl XXXVI as an ‘over/under’ prop for then Rams receiver Ricky Proehl, opened at 14.5 yards, which was inexplicably low based on the numbers which he compiled during the regular season.

Proehl played in all 16 regular season games that season and rang up 563 yards, an average of some 35 per contest and more than twice what the ‘over/under’ opened. Gradually the yardage moved up, eventually closing at 16

Tags: Betting, Bovi, Bowl, Comments, Expert, Gambling, Paul, Proposition, Super, Wagers

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