Three Types Of NFL Super Bowl Bets for Sunday

Updated: May 14, 2025

A recent report by the American Gaming Association stated that America sports fans will bet somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.7 billion on the Super Bowl this year. That number is an all-time high, up 11% from Super Bowl 50.  Analysts state that this fact has little to do with the Atlanta Falcons or New England Patriots participating in the Super Bowl. Rather, it's just the nature of the game itself. The Super Bowl is one of the most gambled-upon sporting events in the world. For those who are looking to make a few wagers on Super Bowl 51, there are three main types of bets that you can try and make some money on:

The Three Types Of NFL Super Bowl Bets you should follow to make Money

1. The score (more commonly referred to as “the line”).
2. Individual player performance bets.
3. Perhaps the most entertaining of them all, prop bets.

Betting on the Score

The Patriots enter Super Bowl LI as three point favorites over the Falcons. Interestingly, that's where the initial line opened, meaning there hasn't been enough money flowing in one direction or another, influencing the line going up or down in either direction. But wagers made on the final score usually don't pay out all that well anyway. That's particularly the case for this game. Taking the Patriots to cover the spread yields a less-than-optimal 1:1.15 return, while taking Atlanta and/or the points yields a 1:1.05 return. The Super Bowl also allows you to bet on the point spread for each particular quarter as well, and betting on New England for any of these yields better than a 1:1 return. The Patriots are favored to outscore the Falcons by 0.5 points in each of the four quarters, and your return for making the correct wager would be  1.2 to 1 for the first quarter, 1.05 to 1 for the second quarter, 1.25 to 1 for the third quarter, and for 1.15 to 1 for the fourth quarter.

But if you're looking for a wager that's in the “high risk, high reward” flavor, then perhaps you should look in the direction of making bets on player performances.

Betting on the Most Valued Player Award

The Super Bowl not only lets you make wagers on whether the majority of players will reach some type of statistical benchmark, but also who will win the game's Most Valuable Player award. It's no surprise that making a wager on Tom Brady to win the MVP yields a sub-optimal 1:1.15 return. But if the Falcons win, and league MVP Matt Ryan wins the MVP honors for that game, you're looking at a return of 1.8:1. But again, if a non-quarterback ends up winning the MVP award, and you correctly predict which one that may be, you're in for a great payday.

For instance, if you believe superstar wide receiver Julio Jones of the Atlanta Falcons will win the MVP award, and he ends up doing so, you're looking at a 92.5:1 return.

Betting on Prop Bets

And finally, if you're someone who isn't really all that in tune with the actual game performance, but want to make a few wagers that really have nothing to do with the football game itself, you should look into the prop bets. You can make wagers for anything from how long Luke Bryan's National Anthem performance will take (guessing whether he'll go over or under two minutes and eight seconds), what type of outfit Lady GaGa will be wearing during her halftime performance, what color the Gatorade will be when the winning team gives their coach the traditional Gatorade shower, and even how many tweets Donald Trump will send out during the course of the game (the over/under for that is currently set at three). Enjoy the game and good luck with your bets. You can choose from our recommended top NFL sportsbooks for optimum performance and big bonuses.