Eagles emerge as small SB favorites over Chiefs

Oddsmakers initially made Super Bowl LVII a toss-up, but the Philadelphia Eagles emerged as the betting favorites over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Caesars Sportsbook and other bookmakers opened the line on Super Bowl LVII at pick ’em Sunday night. Within an hour of posting the line, the Eagles became 2-point favorites.

The favored team in the Super Bowl is 39-17 straight up, according to ESPN Stats & Information’s archived point spreads.

Caesars Sportsbook reported taking 24 bets of $10,000 or more on the Super Bowl spread or money line in the first hour of betting; 21 of them were on the Eagles, according to Caesars editorial writer Max Meyer.

John Murray, executive director at the SuperBook, told ESPN that the majority of early action at his book was on the Chiefs, including a $20,000 bet on Kansas City shortly after the line opened at pick ’em.

“We started moving up with the market as it went towards Philly,” Murray said. “I get the move. The Chiefs look very banged up and were extremely lucky to escape. It’s a good thing for them they have two weeks to get ready for the Super Bowl.”

Philadelphia advanced to the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl with a 31-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game. The Eagles overcame long odds to get there. Philadelphia was as long as 50-1 to win the Super Bowl in the offseason at Caesars Sportsbook, which had 15 teams listed ahead of the Eagles. Their odds improved after a draft-day trade for receiver A.J. Brown, but they still kicked off the season as midtier contenders at 25-1 to win the Super Bowl.

The Chiefs, on the other hand, were among the top favorites all season. They began the season at 11-1 to win the Super Bowl at Caesars Sportsbook, but after a blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1, they had single-digit Super Bowl odds the rest of the way.

Kansas City knocked off the Cincinnati Bengals in a dramatic AFC Championship Game to advance to the Super Bowl for the third time in four seasons behind quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the favorite to win the regular-season MVP award.

The Chiefs have been favored in their past 15 playoff games, the longest such streak of the Super Bowl era.

An all-time high of $179.8 million was bet on last year’s Super Bowl at Nevada sportsbooks, the most of any state that reported betting figures on the Super Bowl. Nevada sportsbooks won a net $15.4 million on last year’s Super Bowl. The state’s sportsbooks have suffered a net loss on the Super Bowl only twice since Nevada Gaming Control began tracking the action on the NFL championship in 1991.

The over/under total on the Super Bowl opened at 49.5.