How the 1986 Super Bowl kickstarted prop betting in America – and why it’s threatening the integrity of US sports
Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest night in American sports. The 2026 NFL showdown between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks in California will be more than just a football game – it’s a full evening of entertainment, from the live music performances to the multi-million dollar ad campaigns.
A popular destination to watch – and bet – on the Super Bowl is Las Vegas, Nevada. And it was in Las Vegas, 40 years ago, that one enterprising casino would forge a new direction in American sports gambling: prop betting.
In January 1986, on the night of the Super Bowl between the Chicago Bears, the clear favourites, and the New England patriots, the sportsbook manager at Caesar’s Palace decided to allow a new type of wager. He offered odds on whether a ginormous, hulk of a player called William Perry, nicknamed “The Refrigerator”, would score a touchdown. It’s gone down in American sports history as the origin of prop betting in the US, when people gamble not just on the result of a game, but on the outcome of individual events within it.
In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we speak to John Affleck, Knight Chair in sports journalism and society at Penn State, who believes the explosion of prop betting is threatening the integrity of professional sports in the US.
American sports from NBA basketball to Major League Baseball to college basketball, are currently reeling from multiple gambling scandals, many involving a form of prop, or micro, betting.
Affleck explains how prop betting grew from that single play on the 1986 Super Bowl into a huge industry that has changed the world of American sports, fuelled by a pivotal 2018 US Supreme Court ruling that allowed US states to decide on whether to allow sports betting. Listen on The Conversation Weekly podcast.
This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Katie Flood, with production assistance from Mend Mariwany. Mixing by Michelle Macklem and theme music by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer.
Newsclips in this episode from Foggy Melson Sports, CBS News, NBC News, 19 News and ABC News.
Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our RSS feed or find out how else to listen here. A transcript of this episode is available via the Apple Podcasts or Spotify apps.
John Affleck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.