Super Bowl Prop Betting Has Exploded Since William 'The Refrigerator' Perry Scored a Touchdown in 1986

On the eve of Super Bowl XX, Caesars Sportsbook bookmaker Art Manteris wanted to capitalize on the interest surrounding the famed 1985 Chicago Bears, who would be playing the New England Patriotsin New Orleans for the Lombardi Trophy.

On the eve of Super Bowl XX, Caesars Sportsbook bookmaker Art Manteris wanted to capitalize on the interest surrounding the famed 1985 Chicago Bears, who would be playing the New England Patriots in New Orleans for the Lombardi Trophy.

Bears coach Mike Ditka had been using defensive tackle William "The Refrigerator" Perry in the backfield on certain short-yardage plays all season, so Manteris thought offering a proposition bet on the rookie to score a touchdown would be a good way to generate handle and potential profit. Longtime Las Vegas bookmaker and current DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello recalls that Ditka had been downplaying the idea of Perry getting the ball in the Super Bowl.

Caesars set Perry's odds to score a touchdown at +2000 and immediately saw a flood of action -- so much that the book had to shorten the number to +200 by the time the game kicked off. When Perry found the end zone in the fourth quarter of Chicago's 46-10 win, it was a huge loss for the sportsbook and others that had latched on to the craze. It also started a new tradition for America's biggest football game.

"We never had this real extensive menu back then, but we would put up quite a few props. Always have the first half, maybe passing yards and things of that nature," Avello told ESPN. "But that prop kind of set everything off, because then the media really took attention of props."

Nearly 40 years after Perry plunged into the end zone and made betting history, the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans, and prop betting has grown into a behemoth. Each week, sportsbooks offer dozens of markets per game, with that number stretching into the hundreds once the big game rolls around.

As a result, there are bound to be some strange props that hit every year.

"With the elevation of this big game and how teams treat it, anything can happen," Caesars head of football Joey Feazel told ESPN. "These wild kinds of bets that are higher odds have a better chance than they would in a regular game."

Here are some of the strangest Super Bowl prop bets to cash over the years:

Opening kickoff for a touchdown

If the Refrigerator Perry situation taught sportsbooks anything, it's that bettors will latch on to storylines from the regular season when placing their Super Bowl wagers.

In 2007, it was another Bears rookie who garnered similar attention ahead of Super Bowl XLI. Devin Hester had become known for his kick returning ability throughout his first season in the league, which led bookmakers to offer props on him to return a kickoff for a touchdown any time at +2000 odds and on the opening kick at +7500, according to Avello's recollection.

It didn't take long for the props to cash, as Hester became the only player in Super Bowl history to return the opening kickoff for six points.

Kickoff return touchdowns, in general, are rare in Super Bowls (there have been only 10 in history) and have only gotten rarer in recent seasons (there hasn't been one since 2014, the longest drought since the big game's first such TD came in 1983). Last year, Caesars offered a kickoff or punt to be returned for a touchdown at any time with +900 odds. This year, ESPN BET is offering a prop on the opening kickoff going for a score at 200-1.

The Super Bowl has never had a punt returned for a touchdown.

First score to be a safety

The Super Bowl has started with a 2-0 score only three times.

The first came during Super Bowl IX in 1975, when Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Dwight White sacked Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton in the end zone for the only points of the first half. Then, nearly 40 years later, Tom Brady was called for an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone on the Patriots' first drive of Super Bowl XLVI against the New York Giants in 2012. Two years later in Super Bowl XLVIII, the first snap from scrimmage went over Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning's head and running back Knowshon Moreno was downed in the end zone by Seattle Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril.

"I think we lost $150,000 on the first play of the game," Avello said. "We didn't even start the game yet; we didn't even get into any offensive plays. And so that prop, 'Safety first scoring play of the game,' was 100-1. You won't find that 100-1 any longer."

Modern sportsbooks split this prop among the teams playing, with ESPN BET listing each team at +7500 for last year's Super Bowl