Super Bowl bettors still liking Giants

Feb 1, 2008 / By Nick Bailey

With two days until the Super Bowl, the majority of bettors are still banking on the New York Giants to beat the spread against the favored New England Patriots.

While more money is starting to come in on the Patriots, sportsbooks and Las Vegas oddsmakers are still seeing a small majority of point-spread bets – and a huge majority of Moneyline wagers – on the Giants.

That follows a trend that saw most early money on the G-men to beat the spread. The line opened at 14 on Jan. 20 but dropped to the 11½ to 12½ range within hours.

“The action is starting to even out a bit,” said Richard Gardner, Sportsbook Manager at BodogLife.

“However, the Giants are still receiving more action than we initially anticipated.”

Gardner said the main reason appears to be New England quarterback Tom Brady’s ankle injury.

“The ankle injury has really impacted the bettors’ logic up to this point,” he told TotalOdds.com. “If his ankle was 100 per cent, we would potentially see more money on the Patriots, but it seems that most of the bettors who have backed the Patriots throughout the season are taking a more wait-and-see approach with practice this week before putting their money behind Brady and his apparently sore ankle.”

Moneyline betting is also favoring the Giants (Giants, +325, Patriots -450) as bettors will usually take the points if they are betting the favorite instead of paying the high juice on the moneyline.

Gardner said BodogLife’s Prop Bets are also getting a lot of action.

“Our Prop Bets always do well, with much of the action coming from the players who simply like to wager on all the oddball props,” he said.

“This year, our two most popular props are: “How long it will take Jordin Sparks to sing the National Anthem” – currently at 1 min., 42 seconds – and, “How many times will Joe Buck mention Peyton Manning’s name during the Game” – currently at O/U 5.5

The 2008 Super Bowl starts at 6 pm ET on Sunday. The game can be seen on FOX.

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