Anthem Bet
The national anthem is one prop bet that many fans bet on, though it is not on the board on U.S. Sportsbooks due to concerns about potential corruption, it is still one of the most popular when. Betting on the national anthem's length is now something of a tradition for degenerate fans watching the big game. Still, some of the bets offered by off-shore books have gotten even wilder — from the outfits featured in the halftime show to the content of the commercials.
Anthem Bethesda
Among the things people like to bet on at the Super Bowl is the length of the national anthem, and this year was no exception.
With Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church teaming up to do the first duet since 2006 — when Aretha Franklin and Aaron Neville performed The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XL — people wondered: would it run longer than anthems in recent years?
One reporter may have figured out an answer.
Zach Maskavich of WESH in Florida was outside Raymond James Stadium on Friday and he timed what sounds like a rehearsal of the national anthem, clocking it at two minutes and 16 seconds, which would be over what some sports books had the over/under at.
What happened next? You can guess: per ESPN, sportsbooks that had the anthem length bet available noticed a ton of wagers coming in on the over and put a halt to it, or they changed the odds drastically.
Anthem Bet
And of course, bettors were pretty angry. Oops!