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Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl line is down another half-point

Money keeps rolling in on the Eagles, enough to drop the line again on Wednesday night.

The Eagles and Jalen Mills are still underdogs, but not by as much as they were when they clinched a berth in the Super Bowl.
The Eagles and Jalen Mills are still underdogs, but not by as much as they were when they clinched a berth in the Super Bowl.Read moreYong Kim / Staff
    by Ed Barkowitz | Columnist
    Published 

Our official handicapper, Vegas Vic, dropped the Super Bowl line to the Patriots minus 5 points on Wednesday evening. It had been New England minus 5.5 to beat the Eagles.

The opening line immediately after the Eagles finished off the blowout of the Vikings in the NFC title game was Patriots by 6. But the confetti had barely landed on the field at Lincoln Financial when the line dropped to -5.5 points, which indicates that early money was being bet on the Eagles. That trend obviously has continued enough to drop it to 5.

MGM properties in Vegas were at New England at minus 4.5 late Wednesday.

Oddsmakers aren't interested in who wins the game. Their goal is just to get an equal amount of wagers on both the Eagles and the Patriots. When that happens, they clean up on the juice — the charge of placing the bet, which is generally 10 percent.

Vegas Vic's over/under for the Feb. 4 Super Bowl is at 48 points, same as it was when the lines came out on Sunday night.

The popular $100-based money lines, which are straight bets without a point spread, are New England -$220, Eagles +$180.

Those who want New England would place $220 to win $100 (or $55 to win $25; $110 to win $50, and so forth). Those who want the Eagles would place $100 to win $180 (or $25 to win $45; or $50 to win $90 and so forth).