A beginner’s guide to Super Bowl LVI betting

With sports betting now legal, Super Bowl LVI will become the most bet-on sporting event to date as an estimated 31.4 million people will put down some money on the big game.

While there will be plenty of fans who have already dipped their toes in the betting water, countless viewers looking to get in on the action will put their very first wagers down on either the Los Angeles Rams or Cincinnati Bengals.

For the beginning sports gambler, Super Bowl Sunday could be a very overwhelming experience considering all the aspects and categories that come with sports betting. After all, there is much more to this than simply picking the winner of Super Bowl LVI, which is why there are so many opportunities for fans to make some money.

Luckily, we’re here to help with a beginner’s guide to betting on Super Bowl LVI to try and make all the vernacular become a little more familiar come this weekend.

Sports Betting 101 ahead of Super Bowl LVI

Betting the Moneyline: This is the easiest wager for a sporter bettor to place when betting on Super Bowl LVI. All one does is pick the team they think will win — though payouts are a bit more complicated.

For example, DraftKings has the Rams at -200 to win while the underdog Bengals are at +170. If the Rams win, bettors who put down $200 for Los Angeles to win would win $100 on top of getting their original wager back.

Should the Bengals win, though, Cincinnati bettors who put down $100 would win $170.

Betting the Point Spread: Also simply known as “the spread,” this is the most popular way to wager on football. A sportsbook will give a point spread for Super Bowl LVI which presents a bettor with two choices to make: Either the favored team will win by more than the amount of the point spread or that the underdog will lose by less than that spread.

The Rams are 4.5-point favorites in Super Bowl LVI, meaning bettors who put money down on the Rams will believe that they will win by at least five points. Those betting on the Bengals believe Cincinnati will either lose by four points or fewer or can outright win the game.

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Betting the Total (Over/Under): This is where a bettor doesn’t try to pick who will win the game, but instead bets on whether or not the final combined score of Super Bowl LVI will go over the total number posted by a sportsbook.

DraftKings has prescribed a 48.5 over/under between the Rams and Bengals. It doesn’t matter which team scores how many points, but rather can they combine to score 49 points (a 28-21 final score, for example) to make those who bet the over a winner? If one does not think the two teams can score much, then they’ll take the under.

Betting Parlays: A parlay is a wager that puts together multiple bets that allows a bettor to win more money. To put it simply, more bets equals more earnings should you hit each leg of the parlay.

So if you take the Cincinnati Bengals on the Moneyline while taking the under (less than 48.5 points), the payout is $400 for every $100 wagered.

Prop Bets: Prop bets allow bettors to wager on specific events or individual outcomes during the game. It could be something like the over/under on how many yards Joe Burrow will throw for or how many sacks Aaron Donald will record. Or it could be something that isn’t even football-related — such as the length of the national anthem, which singer appears first during the halftime show, or what color Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach.