Super Bowl 60 was a grind for bettors and books alike, with the Seattle Seahawks covering as 4½-point favorites in a 29-7 win over the New England Patriots. But the real drama unfolded in the prop markets, where a potential 16-1 octopus payout was extinguished by an incomplete 2-point conversion.
The octopus prop — same player to score a touchdown and the subsequent 2-point conversion — was alive when Patriots running back Rhamondre Stevenson caught a 7-yard touchdown from Drake Maye with 2:21 left. But Maye’s pass to Hunter Henry on the try fell incomplete, saving Westgate sportsbook and others from a heavy loss. “We were definitely afraid of the octopus when New England scored a touchdown and went for two,” said Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray.
The game was scoreless through three quarters for only the second time in Super Bowl history. Caesars Sportsbook had offered no-touchdown in the game at 175-1 and saw strong interest. “We did see strong interest in no-touchdown in the game, which we offered all week at 175-1,” said Caesars head of football Joey Feazel. The drought ended when Sam Darnold hit A.J. Barner for a 16-yard score with 13:24 left, putting Seattle up 19-0.
The total of 45½ appeared doomed when Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III broke a 49-yard touchdown run with 2:10 left, but a holding penalty nullified the score, keeping the game under. “Keeping the game under was huge. That definitely helped a lot,” said Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito. Walker, the 8-1 MVP choice, finished with 135 rushing yards and 26 receiving yards, becoming the first running back to win Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis in 1998.
Bettors cashed on a pair of popular plus-money props when Seattle’s Uchenna Nwosu intercepted Maye and returned it 44 yards for a touchdown with 4:27 left. A defensive or special teams touchdown paid +225, and Seattle to score one paid 4-1. The play was initially ruled a fumble before being changed to an interception; a pick six paid 6-1.
Houston furniture store owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale lost a $2 million wager at Caesars on the AFC to win the Super Bowl. Caesars also took a $100,000 bet on tails and a $253,000 bet on heads for the coin toss; heads won when Joe Montana’s toss landed that way.
Other top prop results for bettors at Caesars included the opening kickoff to be a touchback (+250) and Barner as first touchdown scorer (12-1). The best props for the house were no safety, no overtime, and players with a pass attempt under 2½. BetMGM paid out $3 million on a $50,000 futures bet on Seattle at 60-1. “Players got the best of us,” said MGM Resorts director of trading Lamarr Mitchell.
