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Super Bowl betting: Wagering on the opening coin toss is the ultimate 50-50 proposition

Do you typically pick heads or tails in a coin toss? What would you call if you were given the choice ahead of the Super Bowl?

Betting the outcome of the coin toss is one of the most popular Super Bowl prop bets every season. And there’s no monetary advantage to picking a specific side at BetMGM. Both heads and tails are at -105. That means that you need to bet $105 to win $100.

As you understand, past performance isn’t indicative of future results. Especially when it comes to something as 50/50 as a coin toss. But tails does have a three-game lead in Super Bowl coin tosses. The coin has landed on tails 29 times in 55 Super Bowl games. And tails is getting the majority of the action at BetMGM as 60% of bets are on tails to be the outcome of the coin toss and those bets make up 52% of the money wagered.

The coin toss outcome has also been streaky in recent seasons. The coin has landed on heads in three of the last four Super Bowls. Before that, tails was the outcome for four straight games. Tails in Super Bowl XLVIII between Seattle and Denver broke a five-game streak for heads. And that streak came after tails was the outcome in nine of the previous 11 Super Bowls.

The result isn’t the only coin-toss-related bet you can place at BetMGM. Odds are also available for the winning team of the coin toss, what the call of the coin toss will be and what the winning team's decision will be. The Rams have the choice of heads or tails ahead of the game since the Bengals, as the nominal home team, had the choice of jersey combinations.

Like the toss outcome, a call of heads or tails is each at -105 and you can bet the winning team of the coin toss at -105 each. The bets are split 50-50 on both of those wagers. Heads is getting 57% of the money bet on the call and the Rams are getting two-thirds of the money wagered on the winning team of the coin toss. Over three-quarters of bets are on the team that wins the coin toss to receive at +375, though 76% of the money wagered on that prop is on the decision to defer at -500.

Winning the coin toss hasn’t been a great omen in recent seasons, however. The Chiefs won the toss a year ago and promptly lost by 22 to Tampa Bay. The year before, San Francisco won the toss and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

The last team to win the toss and win the game was Seattle ahead of that matchup with Denver. That means the last seven coin toss winners have gone on to lose the Super Bowl. If you somehow believe that’s more than random luck and has some meaning, you should grab the coin toss loser on the moneyline immediately after the toss happens.

Here are the results from the last 15 coin tosses and the team that won them.

Recent coin toss results

  • LV: Heads (Kansas City, lost Super Bowl)

  • LIV: Tails (San Francisco, lost Super Bowl)

  • LIII: Heads (Los Angeles Rams, lost Super Bowl)

  • LII: Heads (New England, lost Super Bowl)

  • LI: Tails (Atlanta, lost Super Bowl)

  • L: Tails (Carolina, lost Super Bowl)

  • XLIX: Tails (Seattle, lost Super Bowl)

  • XLVIII: Tails (Seattle, won Super Bowl)

  • XLVII: Heads (Baltimore, won Super Bowl)

  • XLVI: Heads (New England, lost Super Bowl)

  • XLV: Heads (Green Bay, won Super Bowl)

  • XLIV: Heads (New Orleans, won Super Bowl)

  • XLIII: Heads (Arizona, lost Super Bowl)

  • XLII: Tails (New York Giants, won Super Bowl)

  • XLI: Heads (Chicago, lost Super Bowl)

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