Bets on Travis Kelce were the most popular individual NFL player wagers Sunday amid hype surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s buzzy relationship with singer Taylor Swift, according to DraftKings, providing a boon to sportsbooks after Kelce registered a moderate statistical performance by his standards.
Not one, but two, Travis Kelce bets were DraftKings' most popular player props Sunday.
DraftKings customers wagered twice as much money on Kelce bets for the Chiefs’ Sunday tilt as they did for the prior two weeks combined, company spokesman Stephen Miraglia told Forbes.
Overall, DraftKings’ two most popular player prop bets were for Kelce to score a touchdown and to register a reception of at least 22 yards.
Both of these bets failed to cash as Kelce caught six passes for 60 yards and no touchdowns with a long catch of 16 yards.
DraftKings boosted the odds for Kelce to have a 22-yard reception to +222 (a $10 bet would profit $22.22) as a nod to Swift’s popular 2012 song “22.”
Other sportsbooks cashed in on the hype surrounding the budding romance: Rival FanDuel also promoted a variety of Kelce and Chiefs props using Swift references, such as a “Seeing Red” bet for the Chiefs to beat the New York Jets by 22 points or more (the Chiefs ultimately beat the Jets by three points).
After a public flirtation, Kelce and Swift hard launched their relationship last Sunday when Swift was in attendance for the Chiefs’ dismantling of the Chicago Bears, sitting next to Kelce’s mom while wearing Chiefs gear. The 33-year-old Swift is among the richest self-made women in America, worth some $740 million per Forbes’ latest calculations and making an estimated $92 million last year. Kelce, a seven-time All-Pro and two-time Super Bowl champion, netted a comparatively meager $3 million in marketing deals and $12 million in salary and bonuses, though experts say the boost in his celebrity due to his more famous other half could result in more lucrative partnerships.
The financial impact of the Kelce and Swift connection has extended far beyond gambling. The Bears-Chiefs game was the second-most-watched game of the NFL’s first three weeks thanks in no small part to the pop star’s presence, the resale market for Chiefs-Jets tickets exploded after reports surfaced about Swift’s planned attendance and Kelce jersey sales spiked 400% last Sunday.