Tom Brady’s intentional grounding penalty from the end zone in the first quarter of the Super Bowl resulted in a safety for the Giants, giving them a 2-0 lead. The safety as the first score in the game was a big deal in sports books because it had a large payout.
According to RJ Bell of Pregame.com, a safety being the first score of the game paid 75:1. That means if you bet $10 on a safety being the first score, you were paid $750.
One person reportedly cashed in even bigger than that.
CNBC reporter Darren Rovell says a bettor at sportsbook.com wagered $200 that a safety would be the first score of the game. The lucky person ended up winning $15,000.
We didn’t encourage people to spend their money on Super Bowl prop bets, but there certainly was plenty of room to profit like this person.
Oh yeah, and that was a terrible play by Tom Brady. Even a rookie quarterback should know much better than to heave a ball downfield with no receivers around, let alone a veteran who’s won regular season and Super Bowl MVP.
UPDATE: It looks like another savvy bettor won $50,000 betting a grand that the first score would be a safety. Here’s that winning ticket:
Ticket from @MikeT21 via Darren Rovell
