Super Bowl Betting Recap: Public Bettors Have Their Day vs Bookmakers

Patrick Everson Sports Betting Expert

3 minute read

Super Bowl betting proved a wild ride that included overtime. Ultimately, the Kansas City Chiefs prevailed 25-22 over the San Francisco 49ers, giving Patrick Mahomes and Co. a second straight championship.

More noteworthy for our purposes, it gave bettors a big win over bookmakers. Pregame, the almost-universal sentiment was that sportsbooks needed the Niners.

Here's what you need to know about how bettors and the books did to Super Bowl 58 betting odds. If your bankroll fattened up on the result, be sure to use our BetMGM bonus code to get the most out of your future action.

Super Bowl Betting

Chiefs Kingdom

Mahomes looked fallible for significant stretches of the game. But he ultimately ended up with the MVP trophy and, more importantly, the Lombardi Trophy.

Kansas City got a Harrison Butker final-seconds field goal to tie the game at 16 and force overtime. San Fran responded by driving down the field in the extra session, but the drive stalled inside the 10-yard line. The Niners settled for a field goal to go up 22-19.

That gave the Chiefs all the life they needed. K.C. drove 75 yards and won the game 25-22 on a 3-yard TD pass from Mahomes to Mecole Hardman Jr.

Kansas City closed a 2-point underdog and was clearly the public side in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs took a large majority of tickets and money on the spread and the moneyline at several books, including Caesars Sports.

"It was a great result for the public. I knew we were in trouble when Mahomes got the ball last," Caesars vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said, referring to the Chiefs' game-tying drive.

Then Mahomes did what Mahomes does. He now has three Super Bowl trophies.

"A game for the ages, where Mahomes proved yet again that he's the best in the business, especially in these late-game situations," Caesars assistant director of trading Adam Pullen said.

Pullen then noted a couple of semi-bright spots behind the counter.

"The futures were good for us on K.C., so that canceled out the moneyline and spread action on the Chiefs," Pullen said. "Overtime was the worst prop result [we had], but Mahomes winning MVP made up for that."

Keeping Kelce Quiet – Sort Of

The bright sides were few for bookmakers, but certainly one was Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce not having a monster game. Kelce played well, no question, with nine catches for 93, including pivotal receptions that kept K.C. in the game.

But he didn't come through in the First TD or Anytime TD markets. And teammate Patrick Mahomes rightly won the Super Bowl MVP award.

"The game was a bad result, but the fact that Kelce did not score, and it not going Over 47.5 helped us ease the pain," BetMGM national trader Tristan Davis said.

Caesars was also bracing for a huge hit on Kelce. Pregame, Mucklow said there were more tickets written on Kelce Anytime TD than on 49ers spread and moneyline combined.

Nevada Numbers

With the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, there was optimism that the state of Nevada would break its Super Bowl handle record of $179.8 million. That mark was set two years ago in the Rams-Bengals matchup.

Late Monday night, the Nevada Gaming Control Board released the unaudited wager total and win recorded by the state's sportsbooks. It was indeed a record at $185.6 million bet on the Super Bowl.

"We should set a record every time Las Vegas is the host city," said Jay Kornegay, who operates The SuperBook as Westgate's vice president of race and sports. "We didn't reach $200 million, but it's about $30 million over last year."

A couple of oddsmakers around Vegas speculated pregame Sunday that statewide handle would approach or even surpass $200 million. The game had the perfect storm of a popular West Coast team in the 49ers, the perennially popular Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, and the whole Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce dynamic.

Still, it was a record, and as Kornegay alluded, it represented a significant increase over last year's total of $153.2 million. Of this year's $185.6 million wagered, sportsbooks won $6.8 million, for a hold percentage of 3.7.

Check out our list of the best NFL betting sites before you wager on football action!

Patrick Everson

Patrick Everson is a senior reporter for VegasInsider. Based in Las Vegas since 1994, he's worked in the sports betting journalism/content space for more than a decade. He's most known for his deep roster of contacts behind sportsbook counters, providing readers and viewers with the ins-and-outs of how events are being bet. He's also a thought leader in the sports betting space, often appearing on or moderating panels at national conferences. More from Patrick Everson