Among the things people like to bet on at the Super Bowl is the length of the national anthem, and this year was no exception.
With Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church teaming up to do the first duet since 2006 — when Aretha Franklin and Aaron Neville performed The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XL — people wondered: would it run longer than anthems in recent years?
One reporter may have figured out an answer.
Zach Maskavich of WESH in Florida was outside Raymond James Stadium on Friday and he timed what sounds like a rehearsal of the national anthem, clocking it at two minutes and 16 seconds, which would be over what some sports books had the over/under at.
Alright gamblers. Here is the timer on the practice of the National Anthem. 2:16 #SuperBowl #GoBucs #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/CpJC4gHUPp
— Zach Maskavich (@ZachMaskavich) February 5, 2021
What happened next? You can guess: per ESPN, sportsbooks that had the anthem length bet available noticed a ton of wagers coming in on the over and put a halt to it, or they changed the odds drastically.
And of course, bettors were pretty angry. Oops!
