The Super Bowl is right around the corner, and not only can you bet on the actual big game, but also on what’s going to happen during Usher’s halftime show.
Several betting sites, including FanDuel and Bovada, are letting fans pick hyper-specific (and in many cases unpredictable) options for what Usher is going to wear, sing, say, and do during his heavily anticipated halftime performance. Whether it is the first song he’s going to perform, how many songs he performs, if he brings out any surprise guests, and many more, there are several options to feed your gambling addiction and lengthen your parlay.
Check out some of the different betting options you’ll have during the Super Bowl halftime show, and my unsolicited, non-expert opinion on which bets to pick. Tail me at your own risk.
Usher’s first words
Bovada: “Yo” (+250), “Vegas” (+300), “What’s up” (+350), “Hello” (+500), and “Yeah” (+500)
This one is for the real unhinged gambling degenerates. Bovada is giving fans the option to choose between several different words Usher might say to kick off the show. The word choices are a combination of the openings to some of his biggest songs, like “yeah” or common phrases that he would say to greet the Vegas crowd.
Jordan’s Pick: My money is on “Vegas”(+300) here because Usher will likely greet the crowd as he ascends from the bottom of the stage to begin the show. However, this bet could go either way, because there is also the possibility that he doesn’t say any of this and opens the show with “I just wanna get your attention” from the intro of “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)” and goes into a different song.
Will any performers have a wardrobe malfunction?
Bovada: Yes (+1000), No (-4000)
This one is pretty straightforward. Ironically, this will be the 20th anniversary of the notorious Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction. With the possibility of wardrobe malfunctions always in the air no matter what the live performance is, you can bet on if Usher will experience the same unfortunate fate. Whether he will have an unintentional malfunction is for you to decide, but he will definitely be taking his shirt off on purpose at some point during the show to feed the crowd, and he’ll probably be wearing Skims when he does.
Jordan’s Pick: Given the Super Bowl’s history with wardrobe malfunctions, and the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake incident anniversary, I’m going all in on No (-4000). It would take a real unhinged gambler to pick Yes (+1000) to their parlay, especially considering his outfit will most likely not be that complicated.
First song
Bovada: “Love in This Club” (+300), “OMG” (+300), “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” (+500), “My Way” (+500), “Yeah!” (+500)
Of course you can bet on what the first song Usher will perform will be. Similar to the bet of who’s going to make the first basket in an NBA game, this pick takes deep in-game knowledge, player analytics, and a whole lot of luck, but there are a few educated guesses you could make here based on it being the Super Bowl halftime show.
Jordan’s Pick: Despite it having lower odds, I’m going with “Yeah!” because it’s a massive hit and something that has enough energy to open the Super Bowl halftime show. “OMG” is another viable pick, as well as “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love,” but these are songs that I think he’ll perform later in the show with special guests.
Number of songs performed
Bovada: Over/Under 9.5, Under (-150), Over (+115)
Most Super Bowl halftime performances are around 13 minutes long, but Usher revealed that his show will be 15 minutes. Vegas has the over/under at 9.5 songs. Since most artists perform medleys of their biggest hits, with each song ranging from a minute to two minutes in length, this bet is more traditional in that math can be used to make your decision.
Jordan’s Pick: I was never good at math, but I’m taking the under here. Given Usher’s performing ability, I assume a few songs will be longer because he will have intricate dance numbers included while performing them. And if he requested to have two extra minutes for his show, it will likely be to extend his medley.
Special guest to appear
Fanduel: Alicia Keys (-330), Ludacris (-250), Lil Jon (-105), Will.i.am (+220), Nicki Minaj (+280), Sean Diddy (+350), Pitbull (+390), Justin Bieber (+450), Lil Wayne (+500), Taylor Swift (+500), David Guetta (+575), Marshmello (+575), 21 Savage (+650), 50 Cent (+800), DJ Khaled (+800), Jay-Z (+800), Beyoncé (+900), Miley Cyrus (+1200), Madonna (+1300)
Fanduel has a laundry list of special guests that you can bet on Usher bringing out during his performance, from Beyoncé to Jay-Z or Taylor Swift. Hov, Bey, and Taylor are highly unlikely to appear with Usher onstage, mainly because they have very few songs together and the moment wouldn’t make sense. However, Usher will most likely bring someone out to perform with him, and there are some predictable choices.
Jordan’s Pick: The safest bet here, and the one I’m probably going with, is either Lil Jon or Ludacris because he would bring them out to perform “Yeah!” early in the show. But if you want to get really crazy, a sneaky pick for me is also Pitbull at +390 because “DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love” is also a massive record, and the Miami artist is someone who is pretty big but also attainable for the NFL.
