Following Super Bowl 58 this weekend, considered the ‘Taylor Swift Super Bowl’ by some, bet365 has unveiled a portion of its betting statistics. It was found that 73% of bets were placed in favour of the Chiefs, who went on to win the game, while only 27% were placed in favour of the opposing team, the 49ers.
This stat sits in stark contrast to other sportsbooks, who seemed to be in favour of a win by the 49ers.
Super Bowl season is always vastly popular among sportsbooks and the gaming industry as a whole. Last year's Super Bowl saw Kambi report its second-highest turnover ever, while this year GeoComply reported 8.5 million active accounts over the weekend, with nearly two million new users signing up for legal online sports betting platforms in the fortnight prior to the game.
Many of the bets offered by bet365 revolved around Chiefs tight-end and partner to Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce. Bets included ‘22,’ where viewers could bet on Kelce recording 22+ receiving yards in each half of the game, while ‘The Last Time’ allowed viewers to vote on Kelce recording the last reception of the game.
Other categories included ‘Fifteen,’ on the condition that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes won the title of Super Bowl MVP, as well as ‘Everything Has Changed,’ on the condition that the Chiefs came from behind to take the lead in fourth quarter.
On the bets taken over the weekend, a bet365 spokesperson said: “Last year’s epic NFL finale was the worst in recent memory for bet365 and with the two outright favourites ling up against each other in Las Vegas, it threatened to be a similar story this time around. While there were plenty of winning bets for our customers this time around, the low-scoring nature of the game meant it wasn’t the hammering that we’d feared.
“On Sunday, we felt the full force of Travis Kelce’s popularity. We saw more bets placed on Kelce to score a TD than we did on San Francisco to win the game, a trend that continued right up until kickoff.”
Following this year's Super Bowl, bet365 has interestingly placed 5/1 odds on the 49ers for next year's winners. This is followed by the Chiefs, Ravens and Bills, holding 7/1, 9/1 and 10/1 odds respectively.
