Gladys Knight’s Super Bowl national anthem sparks prop bet controversy

A controversy has emerged over the prop bet for the length of Gladys Knight’s national anthem at Super Bowl LIII. The legendary Atlanta artist sang “brave” twice as part of her national anthem rendition, which has put an unofficial time that surpassed two minutes into question. The over-under had been set at 1:50 at most sportsbooks.

Bovada is listing her official time at 1:49, and according to SB Nation, BetOnline.ag has paid out both the over and under for the prop bet. It’s unclear how other sportsbooks are handling the matter.

Knight had seemingly topped the over-under in easy fashion with an unofficial time over two minutes. That’s several seconds longer than the length of the anthem sung by Pink prior to last year’s Super Bowl, which came in at 1:52.

The singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before to the biggest sporting event of the year has become one of the game’s most popular prop bets in recent years. Nine of the last 12 singers have hit the over in the national anthem length prop bet, according to The Action Network. Knight seemingly continued that trend with a delightful rendition punctuated by a flyover from AF Thunderbirds.

However, it’s not been that simple for many bettors looking to cash in on their “over” bets.

The longest version of the national anthem ever sung before a Super Bowl was by Alicia Keys, who needed 2:35 to get through it in 2013.

Maroon 5, Travis Scott and Big Boi are set to be in this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. For other prop bets, click here.