National Football League

What is an Octopus bet? Popular 2024 Super Bowl LVIII prop explained

Updated Feb. 9, 2024 1:45 p.m. ET

There’s a veritable sea of Super Bowl prop bets available at sportsbooks nationwide. So perhaps it’s only natural that the Octopus has found its place in that ocean.

What’s the Octopus bet, you might ask? It’s when a player scores a touchdown and then scores the subsequent 2-point conversion. Basically, one player scoring eight points on the same drive. Get it?

Thankfully, Mitch Goldich did back in 2018 while working for Sports Illustrated. On a fine fall football Sunday, Goldich saw something that piqued his interest during the Carolina-Washington game, so he tweeted about it.

"There should be a cool name for what Torrey Smith just did. … What should we call this?"

Goldich’s friend, Mike Wallace, suggested Octopus. And the legend of the Octopus has slowly grown ever since.

Let's jump into how the now-popular prop bet originated.

Eight-Point Play

It was Oct. 14, 2018. Carolina was on the road against Washington, and the Panthers trailed 20-9 in the fourth quarter. With 8:32 remaining, Torrey Smith caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Cam Newton, pulling the Panthers within five at 20-15.

An extra point would still have Carolina down four and needing a touchdown. So the Panthers went for two, and Newton again connected with Smith to make it 20-17. That prompted Goldich’s tweet, his buddy’s suggestion, and, ultimately, another way to bet on the NFL.

Yes, that was the moment the Octopus wager was born.

Although it’s not among the top five, 10 or even 20 most-bet Super Bowl prop bets, the Octopus is slowly gaining popularity with each passing championship game. There’s already plenty of social media chatter about the Octopus ahead of Sunday’s San Francisco 49ers-Kansas City Chiefs clash.

"It’s amazing. Honestly, I can’t believe it," Goldich said Thursday night. "It just began as this silly little thing, and it’s grown to where last year, it actually happened in the Super Bowl. And I was in the stadium!"

Much like that Carolina-Washington game, Philadelphia vs. Kansas City played out in a way that created an Octopus opportunity. Trailing 35-27, the Eagles got a Jalen Hurts 2-yard TD run with 5:15 remaining to draw within 35-33. Going for two to tie the game was a no-brainer. And Hurts ultimately ran it in, securing the first Super Bowl Octopus. (Philly still ended up losing 38-35 on a final-second field goal.)

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Flooded Inbox

As Goldich celebrated winning his prop bet among fans at State Farm Stadium – he made the Octopus Yes wager at +1400, meaning a $100 bet would profit $1,400 – he was flooded with texts, DMs and tags on social media linking to videos showing people celebrating their winning Octopus bets.

Full Disclosure: I was one of those people, as shown here with fellow FOX Sports betting analyst Sam Panayotovich, among others.

"Last year, both Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts had one in the regular season. Both teams had proven they could do it," Goldich said. "With the Tush Push [for Hurts], I felt really good about it happening if the Eagles were around the goal line."

In recent years, multiple sportsbooks have offered the Octopus prop for the Super Bowl. Last year’s result only encouraged more books to do so for Sunday’s game, and some even offered it throughout the playoffs.

"It’s just funny that this silly little thing has caught on and spread," Goldich said.

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Just Say Yes

Goldich said there were 11 Octopuses – or is it Octopi? – converted in the 2023-24 regular season. There have been none in the playoffs so far. The SuperBook currently has this Yes/No prop at Yes +1600/No -6000.

So you can see why Yes would be popular with all the public/recreational bettors. A $100 Yes bet would land a $1,600 profit, while it would take $6,000 on No just to win $100.

"People do play the No, but that’s not how I want to live my life," Goldich said.

I won’t argue with that. I’m on Octopus Yes at +1600 for 49ers-Chiefs. For the second straight year, let’s hope eight is great.

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.