Non Football Prop Bets

• SportsLine Prop Guide See which big game props you need to bet, which players sail over their yardage and touchdown totals, and get trends you need to know, all from a team of football insiders.
• There are plenty of Super Bowl commercial betting props to keep you entertained during the big game. Here are the best and most bizarre for 2020. American Football Meet Maia Chaka.

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Proposition bets are a great way to expand your betting experience beyond the standard moneyline and point spread bets you’re likely already familiar with. They are an ideal way to mix things up by allowing you to wager on more than game outcomes, infusing a bit of novelty to the sports betting experience. This guide provides a detailed explanation of how prop bets work, and whether or not there’s value to be found when wagering on props.

What Is a Prop (Proposition) Bet?

NON-FOOTBALL FUN PROPS National Anthem: Over 1 minute 57 seconds (-110). Time for some fun nonsense. I have no idea why betting on the length. Coin Toss: Tails (-105). Tails is a popular public bet. Prob betting is becoming increasingly popular and the prop bets markets are championed by no sport more than professional football. Almost all online sportsbooks, even the smaller companies will offer prop bets on NFL games, but the bigger online sportsbooks such as FanDuel and DraftKings tend to lead the way in terms of variation within the prop bet.

Prop betting, or propositional betting, allows you to bet on events that occur within a game, series, or season. These events do NOT include the outcome of the game itself. Instead, you can wager on the performance of individual players, a wide range of statistics, or even lighthearted propositions that honestly have very little to do with the game at hand (think – how many times will the announcer say ‘dynasty’?).

Prop bets vary from sportsbook to sportsbook in terms of what you can bet on. That said, there are a few standard bearers that you’re likely to find wherever you prefer to stake your wagers. Props such as which team will score the first goal of the game or if a star player will score a goal/point, etc., are nearly unanimous across sportsbooks.

If you prefer to focus on individual players or more obscure elements of the game, you’ll likely enjoy prop betting.

Prop Bets in Action

Because prop bets vary so much in terms of content, there’s not really a standard way of presenting the odds on the line. That said, prop bets are almost always a yes vs. no or a vs. b option, so the line will be simple and easy to understand. As an example, you might see a proposition bet on how many points Sidney Crosby will score in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. The bookmaker will either set a total or leave it as a yes/no outcome. Here is what that might look like:

As you did with totals bets, you can decide whether Sidney Crosby will score more or fewer than 1.5 points in the game. The prop could also be as simple as, “Will Sidney Crosby score a goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals?” In this circumstance, you would simply choose between “Yes” and “No.”

As long as you understand the fundamentals behind reading and interpreting odds, you’ll have no issues reading the line when you begin exploring the world of prop bets.

Super Bowl Prop Bets

Prop bets are found across all major sports, but they are most commonly associated with NFL betting. Unsurprisingly, the Super Bowl is far and away the most popular event for proposition betting.

Super Bowl Non Football Prop Bets

Some of these props relate directly to what’s happening on the field: how many passing/rushing/receiving yards a particular player will accumulate, how many touchdowns will be scored by a particular player, total number of sacks in the game, and so on. Just about any meaningful stat football fans pay attention to will have a proposition line during the year’s biggest game.

But the Super Bowl appeals to a wide audience, and the sportsbooks want to capture it with a few props you wouldn’t see on a typical NFL game. Here’s a list of a few of the more interesting Super Bowl props we’ve seen on the line over the years:

• First play of the game (pass, play, or sack)
• Brandin Cooks’ receiving yards: Over/Under 67.5
• Will both teams make a field goal from 37 yards or longer?
• Player to score first Eagles touchdown
• Nelson Agholar total receptions: Over/Under 3.5
• Will there be a successful 2-point conversion?
• Total sacks in Super Bowl 52: Over/Under 4.5
• Player to score first Patriots touchdown
• Length of national anthem: Over/Under 2 minutes
• Will Donovan McNabb’s vomiting incident from Super Bowl 29 be mentioned during the broadcast?

Are Prop Bets a Smart Bet?

Some “sharps” think that proposition bets are meant to take “square” money from uninformed, casual bettors. Without question, the “juice” on proposition bets is slightly higher than moneyline, spread, or totals bets. This means that you need to pick correctly more often to enjoy long term success with prop betting. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t any value to be found in proposition bets.

Bookmakers don’t spend a lot of time or resources to generate the most accurate and sophisticated lines for proposition bets. The majority of their time is spent generating odds on higher volume lines. Subsequently, the odds attached to “over” or “under” on a proposition bet are usually generated from a very basic reading of a player’s stat line. If you are motivated to perform detailed research on these statistics, it’s possible to gain a leg up over the sportsbook on proposition bets.

Take the example of “Will Sidney Crosby score a goal in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals?” If you knew that Crosby was going to move to a line with Malkin and Kessel in Game 5 (all three of whom are very strong players), the probability of him scoring +1.5 points would likely be higher than normal. You would want to pounce on this line, as it offers what is referred as “value”, or a higher actual probability than the probability implied by the odds.

Conversely, if Crosby suffered a serious injury in Game 4 and decided to play through it in Game 5, there’s a good chance it would adversely affect his performance. The probability of him scoring under +1.5 points would likely be higher.

It is highly doubtful that the odds assigned to a proposition bet would take such specific information like in the examples above into consideration. As such, there can be tremendous value in proposition bets for bettors who are able to research the specifics of player performance within games.

If you’re the kind of person who researches their players before a big game, prop betting may be an ideal choice for you!

A proposition bet in sports betting are more commonly known as a “prop bet.” This kind of betting is very popular overseas. It is now one of the fastest-growing segments of the sports betting industry in the United States. The growth of prop betting at online sportsbooks is evolving and constantly changing as new legal betting states open up new kinds of opportunities.

Some prop bets may sometimes appear to be similar to futures bets. The difference between the two bets is that a prop bet is a wager on an individual player or specific event. However, the majority of prop bets at a sportsbook are on individual players and not the entire team during a game. Both opportunities may be available depending on the game.

Prop bet search tool

Looking for a player or team to bet on in any sport? Use our search tool below to find the different ways to bet, along with the best available odds at sportsbooks in the US.

Prop betting origins

Prop bets became popular in the United States with the Super Bowl. The specific explosion of prop betting started at the Westgate in Las Vegas (previously known as Las Vegas Hilton). The team at the Las Vegas SuperBook was the first Nevada sportsbook operator to offer a large number of prop bets for an individual game.

Today, all sportsbook operators in Nevada offer hundreds of Super Bowl prop bets, and online sportsbook operators in New Jersey(like DraftKings Sportsbook pictured above), Pennsylvania and more legalized states have followed.

Prop betting started modestly with the Super Bowl but continues to grow. Some sportsbook operators offer prop bets every week during the pro football season. Fewer sportsbook operators offer prop bets every day for other sports. The evolution of prop betting in United States sportsbooks is taking the wagers off the field.

Types of prop bets

MLB

Common prop bets placed on the MLB include the most common stats like ERA, home runs, stolen bases, strikeouts, hits, RBI, and others. These props can include individual game performance, performance over a specific period (a month, playoff series, etc.), or performance over the course of an entire season (regular, post, or both).

NFL

NFL props come in two common variations– per game and total. The most popular props for the NFL are player props like touchdown passes, rushing yards, receptions, interceptions, etc. However, these can also fall under team props like rushing yards allowed per game, turnovers, and passing efficiency. Obscure props are popular mostly during Super Bowls but can range from penalties to the color of Gatorade used by the winning team.

NFL Passing Props
NFL Rushing Props
NFL Receiving Props

NBA

Popular props bet on in the NBA include common statistics like points, rebounds, blocks, assists, and turnovers per game; as well as metrics like shooting percentage, three point attempts, and fouls per game. Team props can include shooting percentages, points in the paint, and free throw attempts. Like the NFL and MLB, these can range from an individual game to over a period of time (series, season, etc.).

NHL

The most common prop bets on the NHL include goals, saves, and assists; other statistics like penalty minutes and ice time are popular bets, as well. First player to score a goal, team assist numbers, and faceoff wins are more obscure yet accessible bets to make over an individual game, week, series, or season.

College football

College football prop bets closely mirror NFL props in stats (passing yards, tackles, etc.), but often see more extreme totals. For example, Memphis might have a higher over/under in yards per game than, say, the Buffalo Bills, due to a wider talent gap in college.

College basketball

College basketball prop bets also closely mirror the NBA props in stats (points per game, steals, etc.). Unlike college football, college basketball sees a decrease in props related to game performance (example, a player or team’s points per game are projected to be lower than NBA due to talent gaps). When betting on NCAAB prop bets on team totals, it’s important to remember that college basketball plays under 40 games per regular season, whereas the NBA plays 82.

Exotic prop bets

Prop Bets For Nfl

Exotic prop bets are only offered by some sportsbooks around the world. These non-traditional prop bets are not necessarily based on activities that take place during a game. The most popular of these exotic prop bets, such as the length of the national anthem or the coin toss results, happen during the Super Bowl.

These props can be as outlandish as the sportsbook operator wants them to be. They usually take place during the most publicly popular events such as a Royal Wedding in the United Kingdom or who will play a specific role in a movie series.

While they may be fun, most of these kinds of exotic proposition bets are not legal in America. This could change in Nevada and in other states that may legalize sports betting.

Nfl Prop Bets Today

Personal prop bets

Proposition betting doesn’t only take place in a sportsbook. Bets with a friend for random activities also fall into the category of a prop bet. For example, a bet that a friend can’t finish 40 pushups during a game of poker might be considered a personal prop bet between friends.