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Every year, the Super Bowl features two major musical acts.
The main event is the halftime show, where a famous artist puts on a dazzling performance for the millions of viewers watching the Super Bowl at home and the thousands in the stadium.
The other comes right before the game and involves a celebrity singing the national anthem. Past singers have included superstars like Beyoncé, Billy Joel and Mariah Carey.
In 2024, country star Reba McEntire sang the Star-Spangled Banner before Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas. She zipped through it in 97 seconds, easily beating the projected Over/Under of 105 seconds.
With sportsbooks offering extensive prop bets for the Super Bowl, many bettors are probably wondering if they’ll be able to wager on the national anthem.
Why National Anthem Betting is Restricted
Unfortunately, you probably can’t bet on the national anthem’s length at legal U.S. sportsbooks, similar to how you can’t bet on the commercials or halftime show. BetMGM Sportsbook told Forbes Betting that it likely won’t offer it in any states in 2024.
One reason is that the anthem has no impact on the game’s results, which automatically disqualifies it as a legal betting market in many states.
Another reason is that the show is rehearsed beforehand, which can lead to some problems. In 2021, the rehearsal was taped and posted online, giving viewers a sneak preview of how long the performance would last.
For a wager to be fair to both bettors and sportsbooks, the outcome cannot be known beforehand. That isn’t the case with the national anthem, so gambling regulators prohibit bets on it.
How Do You Bet on The National Anthem?
If you are in the U.S., no legal and regulated online sportsbooks will accept standalone wagers on the national anthem.
The only exception is if a sportsbook ties it to the game, like offering a bet on whether the time of the national anthem will exceed the longest drive in the game. DraftKings Sportsbook offered a wager like this a few years ago.
If the sportsbooks don’t offer such a market, you can still make friendly wagers on the song with your friends or family in person.
For example, you could bet on how long the anthem will last and time it yourself. You could set it as an Over/Under wager or use a golf-style format where the person with the closest guess to the correct time wins.
You could also wager on whether the singer will flub a line or how long they draw out words like “brave” and “free.”
As you can see, there are plenty of unofficial ways to bet on the national anthem at a party. You just can’t do it at your favorite NFL betting site.
Reba McEntire National Anthem History
McEntire’s previous highest-profile performance of the Star-Spangled Banner came in 1997 when she sang it before Game 3 of the World Series and got through it in a blistering 84 seconds.
Her first on-stage performance came in 1971 at the National Finals Rodeo where she was even faster, as she needed just 70 seconds to get through the 312-word ballad.
The most recent clip of her singing the national anthem is from 2017 when she needed about 80 seconds to finish her rendition.
While the so-called “Queen of Country” has blown through the national anthem in previous performances, the Super Bowl tends to be where singers take their time to enjoy the spotlight.
Per a 2022 report from The Los Angeles Times, the average Super Bowl anthem performance has been 118 seconds. Billy Joel clocked the shortest anthem of the last 15 years (90 seconds; Super Bowl XLI), while Alicia Keys has the longest (155 seconds; Super Bowl XLVII).
Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
