Sportsbooks root for low-scoring Super Bowl amid big prop action - ESPN

The betting total for Super Bowl LX is unusually low, but sportsbooks will be rooting for the final result to be even lower.

At 45.5, according to DraftKings odds as of Friday afternoon, Sunday's matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots is the ninth-lowest Super Bowl over/under in the past 40 seasons and the lowest since Super Bowl 50 between the Panthers and Broncos in 2016 (44), a 24-10 Denver win.

All time, the over is 29-28-1, excluding Super Bowl I, which has total data missing, according to ESPN Research.

Early action for this year's contest saw sharp bettors snap up the under across the sportsbook marketplace. At open, Caesars Sportsbook's head of football Joey Feazel said his book saw big money come in on the under at 46.5 and 46 before the number settled at 45.5, adding that, «45 is the key number there; don't see it going lower than that.» He and other bookmakers are expecting a public surge on the over as the game approaches kickoff.

«It's a Super Bowl, so you're going to take money on the over, just how it goes,» Feazel told ESPN. «People want to see an exciting game and I don't blame them, so you're going to see more action on the over.»

Other bookmakers agree with that sentiment and are beginning to see over money come in heading into the weekend: theScore Bet reports 58.4% of bets on the over, with DraftKings and BetMGM each reporting a little more than half of wagers supporting a higher-scoring game.

John Ewing, media insights manager at BetMGM, expects the total will «continue to climb again as more casual bettors come in to place their wagers.»

Another reason sportsbooks are hoping for a low-scoring game is due to the cascade effect it would have on props. Anytime touchdown scorer