Super Bowl 55 National Anthem: Over/Under Prop Bet & Odds Guide

Like bacon and eggs – or sausages and eggs, or ham and eggs, or basically any breakfast meat and eggs – the Star-Spangled Banner goes hand in hand with the NFL. You know what else goes with the NFL? Betting. But you knew that because that’s why you’re here. At Odds Shark, we understand that this year’s Super Bowl is going to be a haven for casual and pro bettors alike.

The American national anthem is a staple at sporting events big and small across the United States, but arguably the most scrutinized is the performance done each year at pro football’s biggest event. The NFL always likes to get a big name in the music industry to sing the anthem and bettors are waiting in anticipation to see who the organizers get to belt out the Star-Spangled Banner for Super Bowl 55.

Sportsbooks know a lot of bettors will be laying big dollars on betting props involving the length of the national anthem. Last year’s OVER/UNDER betting line for Demi Lovato opened at one minute 55 seconds.

How to Make a Prop Bet on the National Anthem

Most prop bets are specialized wagers that have no bearing on the outcome of the actual game. In this case, a prop bet on the national anthem would be like an OVER/UNDER, aka a totals wager. You would need to decide if the amount of time it takes for the singer to finish singing the anthem will be longer or shorter than the oddsmaker’s set time.

For example, this is what the national anthem prop looked like at online sportsbook Bovada a year ago:

Super Bowl Anthem Past Runtime Results

A wise man once said, “It’s hard to predict the future without knowing your past” and that man was me. Jokes aside, you can never do too much research when betting this prop so it’s important to know how past singers have done in this scenario and whether musical genre plays a part in the handicapping.

It’s worth mentioning that since Super Bowl 40, the average length for the national anthem is one minute 57 seconds. The last time the Super Bowl was in Tampa, it was in 2009 for Super Bowl 43 with Jennifer Hudson as the crooner and she clocked out at two minutes 10 seconds.

The final tip when betting this is to remember that sportsbooks grade this prop out for the first time the singer says “brave” to conclude the anthem. For Super Bowl 53, Gladys Knight sang “brave” three times to conclude the Star-Spangled Banner and OVER bettors thought their bet was in the bag until being corrected in the fine print. Most sportsbooks ended up paying out the bet anyway but you can’t count on them to be this generous after that debacle.

Super Bowl National Anthem Prop Bet: Past Results

National Anthem Composition History

Francis Scott Key, a lawyer from Maryland who would probably be a Ravens fan with complete faith in Lamar Jackson if he were alive today, wrote the poem that the anthem is based on. After drawing inspiration from the American flag that was known at the time as the Star-Spangled Banner, Key sat at his desk, his wooden teeth whistling, and penned a ditty about a wild night against the British complete with rockets glaring red, bombs bursting and freedom in the land of the free and the home of the Atlanta Braves.

Now, it’s up to you, the bettor, to decide how long it will take for the chosen singer to get through Key’s tune.