February 11 sees the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVII. The Pittsburgh Steelers may not have made it this year, but hopefully in 2025 they will. It’s not just an event NFL fans look forward to, but bookmakers are also counting down the days until the match takes place.
NFL.com
Pittsburgh Steelers' star defender, TJ Watt scoops up a loose ball for the first score in Pittsburgh's Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022.
With online sports betting now legal in the state of Pennsylvania, fans of the Steelers can legally bet on this great event with these sportsbook apps. It’s far from just placing a bet on whether the Chiefs can win for a second year in a row, or the 49ers get revenge for their defeat in 2020.
The Super Bowl has become far more than just the biggest game of American Football you can hope to see. Many non-NFL fans tune in to see the spectacular halftime show. This year, Usher will be appearing and that’ll add to the millions that will watch the event live.
Those fans might not even know the rules of American Football, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be placing bets on what happens on February 11.
Steelers Fans Have Different Ways To Bet
You can bet on what brand of shoes or the color sunglasses Usher will be wearing when performing. Just like when watching the Steelers play, you can bet on who’ll score the first touchdown. There’s a similar bet with the halftime show. What song will Usher sing first is a popular wager. You can also bet on how many songs he’ll sing and who might be a guest performer.
Taylor Swift won’t be singing, but will be in attendance. That’s because her boyfriend Travis Kelce is scheduled to be playing in the Super Bowl. It’s possible to bet on how many times the singer will appear on camera.
You can even place a wager on when the couple will announce they’re expecting their first child on Super Bowl day. Bookmakers don’t believe that will be the case. Or perhaps you fancy betting on whether they’ll kiss after the game as they did after the conference final?
Millions of dollars will be made from the Super Bowl. That includes the hefty amounts companies have to pay for the chance to advertise their products. You can even place bets on the commercials with markets including which celebrity will be seen most often in them. Taylor Swift is back again here with a market on whether she and Kelce will be seen together in a commercial. Other markets include which company ad will be the first that is shown.
These kinds of wagers are known as prop bets. They’ve been available at the Super Bowl since 1985, but the sports betting industry was very much different in those days as we’ll shortly explain. These kinds of bets are different from the usual ones you can make such as the Steelers to win their next match or win a divisional title.
Jordan Schofield / SteelerNation (Twitter / x: @JSKO_PHOTO)
Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has been heavily criticized, but sticking with his ways resulted in a playoff appearance in 2023 for the team.
Betting in PA
It’s only been in recent years that sports betting has been made legal in Pennsylvania. November 2018 saw the first legal in-person sports bets taking place. The following May, online sports betting was introduced.
The launch of legal sports betting in Pennsylvania has proved to be incredibly popular. In December 2023, total bets to the value of $925.6 million were placed. That figure was around 22% higher than the amount in the same period last year.
The total was just below the monthly record, but is expected to drop in the next couple of months. That’s because there are less NFL games to be placing bets on.
Total revenue earned by sportsbooks in Pennsylvania was over $98 million, a highly impressive 38% higher than in December 2022. Total gambling revenue for last year was a record $5.7 billion.
All this revenue being earned isn’t just good news for the betting companies. Over $450 million in tax revenue has been earned from total bets of more than $22 billion since legalization.
Conclusion
Like any industry, gambling is keen to attract as much revenue as it possibly can. Therefore allowing bets on everything from who will win the toss to the attendance or the number of celebrities in attendance means it’s not just the NFL fans who will be placing bets with them.
ESPN
The late-great, Dan Rooney (right), alongside Head Coach Mike Tomlin (middle), and former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger (left), after a victorious Super Bowl XLIII.
For the postgame, it’s not just that possible Taylor Swift kiss you can place a wager on. There’s also the opportunity to bet on the color of Gatorade that the winning team’s coach will be drenched in. The current favorite color is purple if you do fancy having a bet in this market. Let’s hope next year you can bet on the Steelers being involved.
