THE Philadelphia Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday.
It’s undoubtedly the biggest match in the NFL calendar with over 119million viewers expected to tune in across the globe.
It’s estimated that legal American bookies will take over £1billion in bets on the encounter.
A report from the American Gaming Association (AGA) suggests that figure will explode to a colossal £23bn when illegal sportsbooks, pools and casual wagers among friends are included.
Most of those wagers will be placed on the traditional markets such as the overall winner, point spreads and total points markets.
In fact one US punter at BetMGM in Nevada has already staked £640,000 on the Eagles to win at odds of 11/10, which would return over £1.3m!
However, while serious analysts pore over statistics to make informed bets, a very different kind of wagering market is thriving — novelty betting.
These are types of wagers on a sporting event that often don’t directly relate to the outcome.
And they can be on anything from the time it takes to sing the national anthem to even the outcome of the COIN TOSS.
In fact, two years ago one bookmaker in the US offered odds on Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid being doused in barbecue sauce after the game.
Yes, really.
It’s become Super Bowl tradition for the winning team to pour a bucket of Gatorade over their coach after the clock hits zero.
And punters love a bet on what colour it will be.
The Chiefs are going for a historic ‘three-peat’ on Sunday night – and the last two years coach Andy Reid has been covered in purple energy drink.
A repeat of that is the leading contender at 11/8, but value-hunters might consider backing Orange or Blue at more sizeable odds of 6/1.
Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: “What ‘Abide with Me’ is to the FA Cup final, the Gatorade shower is to the Super Bowl. Is purple rain forecast for a third Super Bowl in succession? If the favourites win, the odds suggest it looks that way.”
Punters might also need to buy themselves a stopwatch with bookies offering over/under markets on the number of seconds it takes to perform the Star-Spangled Banner.
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Jon Batiste is performing this year.
In the past he’s played it on guitar, piano, with a band and even sung it a cappella – and fans have no idea what to expect.
Over 120.5 seconds is available at 4/5, so punters who’ve backed that will be praying for a repeat of Alicia Keys, who still holds the record at two minutes and 36 seconds to perform the national anthem back in 2013.
There’s also a market on whether any player or coach will cry during the national anthem, whether the MVP with thank God or his team-mates first and which celebrity will appear first in a commercial.
Not content with any of those? You can also bet on there being a power outage.
That might have something to do with the game being delayed for 34 minutes due to a power outage the last time the Super Bowl was hosted at the Caesars Superdome.
Kendrick Lamar is performing the prestigious half-time show this year – and viewers can even have a punt on what track he will play first.
The current favourite is Arsenal fans’ new favourite song Humble, at just over evens.
But it’s another musician who might steal Kendrick’s thunder in the early hours of Monday morning.
Rumour has it Travis Kelce is planning to propose on the winners’ podium if the Chiefs are victorious – and you can even bet on that.