Super Bowl is year's busiest day for Hard Rock Sportsbook.

BRISTOL — What does an octopus and the Super Bowl have in common? When the Philadelphia Eagles played the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl LVII in 2023, Jalen Hurts scored a touchdown and followed up it up by scoring a two-point conversion. That is only time a player has scored a touchdown and two-point conversion consecutively in Super Bowl history. In the sports betting venacular, that is called an octopus. Could it happen again? The odds are a whopping +1400 against it occurring on Sunday when the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots meet in Super Bowl LX. Feel lucky it could happen again? You can wager on it on Sunday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Bristol, via on-site kiosks, ticket windows or simply betting online with the HardRockBet app. The Super Bowl is like a restaurant on Mother's Day at the Casino. Expect to start busy and stay that way. "It is a 12-hour day," Sportsbook Manager Charles Smith said. "We overstaff for it because we are taking care of a lot more guests usually that day so we want as many people here as possible. That is probably our busiest day from open to close." Expect a packed house around sportsbook area, which has nine betting kiosks, two ticket windows, one food kiosk and food runners to bring the tailgating themed food. New comfortable chairs have added about 30 more seats, which also allows for an unblocked view of numerous very large televisions. "It will be packed. There will be guests sitting at those (machines) watching the game," Smith said. "We have the center bar area where we will have it on our big screen for that...We have 50 external TVs on property to watch the Super Bowl. Everywhere they can watch it it will be there." Hard Rock is preparing for its fourth Super Bowl since it opened in the former Bristol Mall in 2022. Director of Gaming Operations Mark Durbin reminds guests that there will be plenty of promotions and activities, and it begins on Friday and continues through Sunday. "There is plenty of other things to do here on the property," Durbin said. "We will have promotions that day, a pick your gift card promotion that is happening. Even Saturday the day before we have two promotions running so make a weekend of it. We have got food specials in the cafe, drink specials. It will be a big impact across the entire property. It will be good to have a big crowd in here on Sunday and enjoy the atmosphere." An estimated $1.76 billion will be wagered nationally on the Super Bowl, an uptick from the $1.7 billion last year according to Smith. Seattle (-115) enters as a -4.5 point favorite over New England (+105), while the over/under — number of combined points by each team — is at 45.5 (-110 for both teams). Seattle is -230 to win, while the Patriots are +190. "It hasn't moved a lot either, which is a little odd," Smith said. "I would expect to see a little movement, one way or the other, but it has stayed within a point or a half a point so far." The large variety of bets from player props to much more can be found on the HardRock app. If the oddsmakers are correct, the top non-quarterbacks expected to score touchdowns will be Seattle's Kenneth Walker II (-200) and Jaxon Smith-Nbigba (-110), along with Rhamondre Stevenson (+140) for the Patriots. Both teams were longshots — New England (+12000) and Seattle (+6000) at the start of the season — to make it this far, with neither quarterback — Seattle's Sam Darnold or Drake Maye of New England - considered among the game's elite. Yet, here they are, in the biggest game of all. "There are not a lot of New England fans that I have seen or met here, not many Seattle fans," Smith said. "For the Super Bowl it really doesn't matter. The people are going to come out no matter what." The sportsbook has planned a variety of promotions for Sunday. For a minimum bet of $500, an entry form will be put in the box for the team of their choice and a drawing will be held after each score for free plays ($500 for touchdown, $300 field goals, $200 safety, $500 octupus). "It will be based on where the guest chooses to put their ticket," Smith said. "It leaves a little bit of up to chance that that point, but if it is a high scoring game we will be giving away a lot of money." Ditto for the poker room, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Friday with the same promotions. There are 11 TVs there, along with separate betting and food kiosks, and a poker tournament that will be held prior to Sunday's game. "We are doing somewhat of the same promotions except for one hour of play you will earn one ticket," said Poker Room Manager Joe Bernardi, who added that $600 an hour in chips will be given away for hotseats from open to close on Friday to celebrate its anniversary. "Then the promotion works as far as payouts the same way, except you will get live gaming chips instead of free play." There is a definite void of activity the week between championship games and the Super Bowl, but Smith said that time has been spent preparing for the busiest day of the year. They are ready to go. "That is a very slow week for us. It is more making sure we get everything in line for our celebration here. Make sure our scheduling is good, our food, menu, everything is ready to go," said Smith, who said the next big event for the Sportsbook is March Madness. "We are just waiting on that day to come and then it is show time."