How to bet on the Super Bowl as legal sport betting spreads

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — With legal sports betting continuing to spread in the U.S., this year's Super Bowl is likely to be among the most wagered-on championship games ever.

The gambling industry's trade association, the American Gaming Association, estimates $6.8 billion will be bet legally and illegally on the game. It says 26 million Americans plan to make a bet, up 15% from last year. And a survey by the online bookmaker DraftKings found 78% of respondents say they're more likely to watch the whole game if they have a bet on it.

While many football fans are old hats at betting on the big game, through means legal and otherwise, the Feb. 2 game will be only the second since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for all 50 states to offer legal sports betting (so far, 14 offer it).

Here is a guide to betting on the big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers:

— The most popular bets continue to be on the point spread (the number of points by which a team must win the game in order for the bet to be a winner) and the total, also known as the over/under (the total number of points scored by both teams).

Contrary to popular belief, the point spread is not a consensus on how many points oddsmakers think one team will win by. Rather, it is a number designed to generate as close to an equal number of bets on both sides as possible. That way, the oddsmakers are guaranteed a profit through a cut of the action, called the vigorish, or “vig.” (Many books, hoping to sound less wiseguy-ish, call it “the price.”) Most sports books will keep about 10% of a winning bet before paying you the rest, but they keep 100% of all losing bets. Prices on Super Bowl bets can vary significantly, so it pays to shop around to get the lowest...