The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl 60 on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., a result that proved profitable for many sportsbooks.
Most bettors expected the Seahawks to cover a 4.5-point spread, yet numerous totals and player yardage and touchdown props stayed under the lines — including bets on Seahawks receiver Jackson Smith-Njiba. On Hard Rock Bet, more than half of the parlays featured Seattle to win plus touchdowns from Smith-Njiba and Kenneth Walker III; neither Smith-Njiba nor Walker found the end zone, and a touchdown by Seahawks tight end AJ Barner helped defeat those multi-leg tickets.
There were big wagers even before kickoff: one Caesars Palace bettor put $253,000 in cash on the coin toss coming up heads at -103 and collected just over $245,000 after it did. Another customer in Iowa had wagered $100,000 on the same outcome earlier in the week. Books did lose some money to bettors using Seattle alternate spreads (for example -6.5, -7.5, -10), but overall the books came away well.
Circa Sports reported placing two seven-figure moneyline bets on the Patriots, which helped the book’s overall return. Circa’s director of operations, Jeff Benson, said he personally wagered $2 million on New England and that the combination of many unders in props and a Kenneth Walker III MVP pushed the day into the positive for the book.
Nevada regulators said state sportsbooks reported $133.8 million in total wagers across 186 books, with a $9.9 million hold — about 7.4% — making Super Bowl betting in Nevada the smallest handle since 2016. For comparison, last year’s Super Bowl handle was $151.6 million and the 2024 game set a $190 million record.
Executives at Westgate and Station Casinos said the favorites’ win and cover, along with many prop results landing against bettors’ expectations, helped limit losses. Props such as no overtime, no safeties, and only two players attempting passes also worked in the books’ favor, and Seattle’s late defensive touchdown on Uchenna Nwosu’s 45-yard interception return — following a hit by Devon Witherspoon — proved a profitable outcome for sportsbooks. As one veteran oddsmaker put it, it was “a pretty good day” for the betting side.
Fan Take: This matters to NFL fans because the outcome — and the way props landed — underscores how unpredictable events and single plays can shift narratives and betting outcomes overnight. For the sport, it highlights the growing influence of prop markets and large-scale wagering on how games are viewed and discussed, which could push leagues and sportsbooks to refine how they present and manage those markets.
