U.S. sportsbooks won’t take bets on possible Taylor Swift appearance at the Super Bowl

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer

Fans have been wondering for days whether Taylor Swift will make it to the Super Bowl next week to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs and, if so, how many times she’ll show up on TV during the game. They can speculate all they want, but they won’t be able to bet on it legally in the United States.

Those types of wagers can be made offshore with sportsbooks such as BetUS, which is based in Costa Rica, and potentially in the Canadian province of Ontario. BetMGM public relations manager John Ewing said he was waiting for word from Canadian authorities there if such bets will be OK.

But in the U.S., where betting laws vary from state to state, the general rule is that wagering is limited to what happens on the field. A handful of states allow bets to be placed on the color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach — red or pink is this year’s plus-260 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook — but even that type of wager is not allowed in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas, the longtime epicenter of sports betting in the U.S., has some of the strictest rules regarding the kinds of wagers made.

ESPN BET, however, has found a creative way to get Swift involved in its Super Bowl action without violating any laws. It includes such bets as “Swift Action” on whether a touchdown will be scored in the first two minutes and “MVP Swelce” on whether Kelce will be the game MVP.

Nevada-based STN Sports has a prop called “Tight end vs. Pop Star” that asks whether Kelce will go over or under Swift’s 10 platinum albums.

Swift’s romance with Kelce became one of the prominent stories this NFL season and she has attended several Chiefs games, including their victory in the AFC championship game at Baltimore on Sunday, where she joined the team for its on-field celebration and greeted Kelce with a kiss. Since she’s performing in Japan the weekend of the Super Bowl, fans began wondering whether she’ll make it to Las Vegas to watch Kelce and Kansas City face the San Francisco 49ers.

It seems only natural they would be able to put money on it in Vegas.

As a matter of principle, though, Ewing said it makes sense not to allow bets on things apart from the on-field action, such as the length of the national anthem.

“We don’t want any subjectivity in a prop (bet),” Ewing said. “We want it to be either it won or it didn’t win or went over or went under, and that’s the concern for regulators as well. That’s why typically we stick to if it’s in the box score, it can be posted.”

Caesars Sportsbook assistant trading director Adam Pullen’s position is the more bets, the merrier.

“We’ve come a long way, but some stuff like we’re talking about here (about Swift) or betting on elections, there still might be a few years before we get to that point,” Pullen said. “But I like anything that drives action and gets people to bet. But we’re dependent on what the regulators in each particular state has to say.”