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Wagering on the length of the Super Bowl national anthem is one of the first Big Game bets to cash in on Super Sunday, with oddsmakers setting an Over/Under on the time required to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
This year, R&B star Jazmine Sullivan will be joined by Eric Church to sing the Super Bowl LV national anthem. The duo was announced by the NFL on Jan. 19, 2021, and online betting sites were quick to post odds.
Selection | Odds |
---|---|
OTB | OTB |
OTB | OTB |
Selection | Odds |
---|---|
Yes | +300 |
No | -500 |
Selection | Odds |
---|---|
Yes | -270 |
No | +180 |
A quick search of YouTube will show a couple of instances of Sullivan performing the national anthem at other sporting events.
In this video, Sullivan sings the “Star-Spangled Banner” in 1:38 (98 seconds) at a Feb. 2016 NHL Stadium Series game between the Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks (the video is incorrectly labeled as the NHL All-Star Game).
Because Sullivan is teaming up with Church, there will more likely be backup vocals and guitar involved.
In this Oct. 2014 anthem performance at a Philidelphia 76ers game, Sullivan sang the “Star-Spangled Banner “with a guitar accompaniment and finished the anthem in about 1:44 (104 seconds), but added a flourish after the final lyric that brought the total time up to about 1:49 (109 seconds).
Odds for the length of the national anthem at Super Bowl 55 haven’t been posted yet, but we’ll be updating this page when they are.
Betting on the Super Bowl national anthem is one of the many novelty prop markets available for the annual NFL championship that isn’t connected to the outcome of the actual game. The singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” takes place before the coin toss and has become one of the most popular Super Bowl prop bets at online sportsbooks.
Super Bowl national anthem prop bets have grown in popularity over the past decade, especially because this market doesn’t directly involve the game and has a fun crossover into pop culture that appeals to even the most casual viewer.
The national anthem prop bets are among the entertaining novelty Super Bowl betting odds available for the Super Bowl, such as the coin toss, the color of the Gatorade bath for the winning coach, and betting options around the halftime show.
Betting on the Super Bowl national anthem all depends on the performer named to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” From there, oddsmakers can have a lot of fun creating some unique and entertaining national anthem props.
The most common way to bet on the Super Bowl national anthem is the length of the national anthem. Oddsmakers will set an Over/Under total in time (minutes and seconds) and bettors can pick whether the anthem will go Over or Under the set time total.
Most anthem singers have performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at previous events and games, and many of those renditions are available to watch online with platforms like YouTube. Once the Over/Under time total is set, you will find plenty of Super Bowl bettors flocking to those clips to help handicap the singer’s style and the average time needed to belt out the anthem.
Besides betting on the length of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” there are other Super Bowl national anthem props available:
These other props are not nearly as popular, however, and won’t be offered at all betting sites.
The national anthem length odds usually come out two weeks prior to the Super Bowl, shortly after the performer of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is announced.
The Over/Under time and attached vig/juice will vary from book to book, so if you have multiple sportsbook options you can shop around for the best total price to fit your prediction. Like most Over/Under bets, books will display the total and the Over and Under will have vig/juice attached to each side.
For example, the Over/Under for the Super Bowl LIV national anthem was 1 minute and 56 seconds (116 seconds) with an opening vig of -115 per side. That means for every $10 you want to win, you need to risk $11.50 ($115 to win $100).
However, as more money was bet on the Over heading into Super Sunday, bookmakers adjusted the vig on the national anthem odds to Over 116 seconds (-140) and Under 116 seconds (+110). Oddsmakers did this to draw more money to the Under. That adjustment meant that for every $10 you wanted to win betting the Over you would need to bet $14. And for every $10 risked on the Under you could win $11 ($100 wins $110).
Popstar Demi Lovato performed the national anthem at Super Bowl LIV and took 1 minute and 49 seconds to complete it (109 seconds), so those that bet on the Under won their prop wager.
The explosion in online sports betting in the late 1990s got the ball rolling on novelty Super Bowl props. While casinos in Las Vegas couldn’t offer action on the length of the national anthem (restricted by state gaming control board rules), online bookies could and jumped at the opportunity to take wagers on this fun pop culture-powered prop.
Going back to Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, the average length of the national anthem is 116.24 seconds (1 minute and 56.24 seconds) over the past 21 Big Game renditions. Only eight of those anthems went longer than two minutes, however, four of those have come in the past eight Super Bowls.
The longest amount of time needed to sing the Star-Spangled Banner in that span was 2 minutes and 35 seconds by Alicia Keys at Super Bowl XLVII in 2009 while the quickest anthem time of the past 21 years was 1 minute and 30 seconds by Billy Joel at Super Bowl XLI in 2007.
In terms of betting the national anthem, the most memorable — and controversial — singing of the Star-Spangled Banner was by pop star Christina Aguilera at Super Bowl XLV in 2011.
Being that there is no official timer, some sportsbooks will grade this prop on slightly different times. This has, in the past, resulted in the same bet being graded as Over at some betting sites and Under at others. Be sure you understand the terms and conditions of this prop at your betting site before placing a bet.
Not only did Aguilera mess up the words to the national anthem but she added a “Woo” at the end of the song, which had different sportsbooks grading the length at various times: some including the “Woo” and others not. Anthem bettors that lost their prop bet based on those decisions were unhappy and many online books made the call to pay out bets on both the Over and Under to avoid further outrage and bad press.
As the Super Bowl nears, it’s time to queue up your patriotic playlist and put your pop culture predictions to the test by betting on the length of the Super Bowl national anthem:
The novelty of these Super Bowl prop bets shows no signs or wearing off. Armed with historical background, a stopwatch and of course, a trusty listing of online sportsbooks, you are ready to line up your first Big Game bet.
Yes, you can bet on the national anthem if legal sportsbooks in your region are allowed to offer those props.
The average length of the Super Bowl national anthem over the past 21 years is 116.24 seconds (1 minute and 56.24 seconds).
Demi Lovato took 109 seconds (1 minute and 49 seconds) to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LIV in 2020.
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