The Octopus Bet Explained: What Is An Octopus Bet?

Welcome to the land of wonderful Super Bowl prop bets – among them, the Octopus Bet!

The precise definition of an octopus bet reads, “An octopus is when the same player who scores a touchdown also scores the ensuing two-point conversion.”

The Octopus bet stands out as a particularly unique and favored wager during the Super Bowl, which has become the event most bet on in the sports calendar, especially since sports betting was legalized in numerous states across the U.S.

With the rise in attempts for two-point conversions, the chances of winning an Octopus bet have significantly grown, enhancing its popularity.

The Octopus – A Fun Prop Bet

While the primary attention during the Super Bowl often goes to selecting the winner, sportsbooks have gone hogwild adding player props. Thus, the availability of octopus bets, which are not always offered throughout the regular football season, represents a significant opportunity for fun.

Beyond bets on the color of the Gatorade shower for the coach or the duration of the National Anthem, one intriguing option that might capture a bettor’s interest is the prop bet on occurrence of an octopus during the game – yep, it’s called an octopus.

Super Bowl Octopus Odds in 2024

For the Chiefs vs 49ers Super Bowl 58, the current odds for an octopus happening are +1400 – which is actually pretty solid. ‘No Octopus to happen’ is around -2500, so not much of a payoff.

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History Of The Octopus Bet

Even if a diehard football fan who lives and breathes every snap may not know what the octopus wager market is, so do not be alarmed if this catches anyone off guard. Created in 2019 by a sportswriter, an octopus is when the same player that scores a touchdown scores the ensuing two-point conversion.

No, being a quarterback and throwing the ball for a TD does not count. You must be the one who secures the ball in the end zone on both plays.” Before this current NFL season began (2022-23), there have only been 169 recorded instances in NFL history. The naming of the term and the mere possibility of it is rather new, as the two-point conversion was adopted to the NFL in 1994.

How Often Does an Octopus Happen in the NFL?

Not particularly often.

To try to understand the frequency of an octopus during an NFL game, we can take a peek at a past season – six occurred during the 2021-22 season.

They were by: Michael Pittman Jr., Danny Amendola, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Dalton Schultz, Mark Andrews and Quintez Cephus. Believe it or not, Andrews reeled off two octopi in the same game against the Indianapolis Colts during Week 5 of that season.

Todd Gurley leads all players in NFL history with four octopi!

Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss is second best all-time with three octopi, with over 20 different NFL players in a tie for third place with two (including Andrews).

Anyone Wagering No to an Octopus in 2024?

There probably aren’t a bunch of customers rushing to wager ‘No’ for this market, so here’s the odds of an octopus happening in last year’s Super Bowl. Betting odds of +1400 imply a probability of 6.67%.

Before this current NFL season began, out of all NFL games since the two-point conversion was implemented in 1994, the odds of a game having an octopus is roughly 2.25%. Odds of -2500 for the ‘No’ market imply a probability of about 96.15%.

The probability that an octopus doesn’t occur is around 97.75%, which gives a “no” wager a roughly 1-2% betting edge, but obviously comes with a hefty odds number that is unattractive to most customers.

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WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track NFL moneylines, spreads and betting percentages for all playoff football games and monitor your NFL player prop betting picks, including Super Bowl LVIII.

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