Heads or Tails? Out of the thousands of Super Bowl LVI prop bets available for the NFL betting public to wager on, none are as straightforward as the pregame coin toss. The literal 50-50 odds of the Super Bowl coin toss landing on either heads or tails make it a difficult prop to handicap in terms of finding an edge. Nonetheless, the simplicity combined with the instant gratification result makes it one of the most popular prop wagers among the betting public on an annual basis.
For bettors interested in having Super Bowl coin toss betting action for this year’s Rams vs Bengals matchup, you’ve come to the right spot. The following contains the official coin toss betting odds, betting trends, a look at this year’s official Super Bowl coin and analysis to try and help you pick the winning side.
Super Bowl Coin Toss Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of MyBookie Sportsbook
Result of Coin Toss: Heads (-101) | Tails (-101)
Will the Team that Calls the Coin Toss Be Correct: Yes: (-105) | No (-105)
Team to Win the Coin Toss: Rams: (-101) | Bengals: (-101)
Super Bowl Coin Toss History
Last year, those who bet the Super Bowl coin toss to turn up as HEADS were winners. However, HEADS still trails when it comes to the all-time Super Bowl coin toss results. In the 55 previous Super Bowls, TAILS owns a 29-26 advantage.
TAILS was able to expand its lead by winning four straight years between Super Bowls XLVIII and LI. However, HEADS has clawed back by winning three out of the last four flips including last year.
While TAILS may enjoy the all-time advantage, it’s certainly a slim lead at that. Expressed as a percentage, TAILS has won on 52.7% of all Super Bowl coin tosses to date. This slim margin certainly suggests that the probability of the Super Bowl coin toss is indeed 50-50 over the long haul.
Recent Coin Toss Betting Trends Correlate Negatively with Game Outcome
Winning the coin toss has not translated into winning the Super Bowl itself in the 55-year history of the Big Game. The Kansas City Chiefs won last year’s coin flip but failed to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. This came just one year after the Chiefs lost the Super Bowl coin toss but emerged as NFL champions. In fact, the team to win the coin toss in each of the last seven years has gone on to lose the game itself. Talk about an interesting coin toss betting trend!
All told, only 24 teams (43.6%) who won their respective Super Bowl coin toss have gone on to win the game itself. Interestingly enough, of those 24 occurrences, 12 had a coin toss result of HEADS and 12 TAILS. Go figure!
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Team-Specific Super Bowl Coin Toss History
The following sections look at the previous Super Bowl coin toss history for this year’s participating teams, the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals.
Rams Coin Toss History
The Rams certainly wish that their Super Bowl win-loss record was as promising as their coin toss history in the Big Game. Los Angeles is a perfect 4-0 on coin toss results in their four previous appearances in the Super Bowl. However, the Rams only went on to win the championship in one of those four games.
Of the four previous Rams Super Bowl coin toss outcomes, HEADS emerged as the winning side three times. Oddly enough, the only time TAILS was the winner was also the only Super Bowl that the Rams ultimately went on to win.
Of course, two of the Rams’ Super Bowls came while the franchise was located in St. Louis, including their lone triumph. However, it should be noted that L.A. teams boast a perfect 3-0 record on the Super Bowl coin toss. In addition to the Rams’ two coin toss wins, the Raiders also won the coin toss for their lone appearance in the Big Game representing the City of Angels.
Bengals Coin Toss History
This will be the Bengals’ first appearance in the Big Game in over three full decades. While Cincinnati also has an unsuccessful Super Bowl history in terms of the final game outcome, they differ from the Rams when it comes to coin toss results. Coming into Super Bowl LVI, the Bengals are 0-2 on prior coin tosses.
Oddly enough, both of the Bengals’ prior Super Bowl coin toss outcomes were identical in nature. TAILS came up on both occasions and favored the opposing San Francisco 49ers. The Niners then went on to beat Cincinnati and hoist the Lombardi Trophy in both games. Perhaps a different opponent will help reverse the Bengals’ luck when it comes to both their Super Bowl coin toss betting trends and championship aspirations.
Heads or Tails: What’s the Call?
Historical trends, data and results from prior Super Bowl coin flips are great and all, but how should one go about betting this year’s toss? There have actually been experiments done on coin toss procedures and how they might correlate with results. One study which was overseen by a math and stats professor at Stanford University yielded some particularly interesting findings.
According to Dr. Persi Diaconis, the side of the coin facing up when flipped actually has a quantifiable advantage. Diaconis and his research team proposed that the true odds of a coin toss are actually closer to 51-49 in favor of the side facing up when the coin is thrown into the air than they are to being 50-50.
Do with this information what you will. For the record though, last year’s Super Bowl coin did in fact have HEADS facing up when it was tossed! The year before, it was TAILS facing skyward both when the coin was tossed and when it landed.