Celebrity singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has once again demonstrated her cultural influence by prompting an avalanche of wagers for Travis Kelce, whom she is rumored to date.
Kelce is a National Football League star, currently playing as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. According to wagering operators, bets on the player have more than doubled ever since the dating rumors appeared.
According to the wagering operator Tipico Sportsbook, fans of Taylor Swift appear to be either actively wagering on Kelce or influencing the overall market. Citing numbers first announced by the operator, weekly Travis Kelce player prop bets skyrocketed by 115%. At the same, anytime touchdown bets increased a whopping 122%.
During the weekend, Kelce stood firmly as the most wagered-on NFL player in terms of anytime touchdown bets. Bets on him comprised a stellar 30% of the total number of anytime touchdown bets. For reference, the second most bet-on player in terms of anytime touchdown wagers was Christian McCaffrey with only 14% of the bets.
Swift Definitely Affected the Numbers
The overall betting handle during the game between the Chiefs and the New York Jets also made up 23% of the NFL handle, although this figure cannot be necessarily attributed to Taylor Swift’s fans alone.
Regardless, it is very likely that the songstress’ popularity did play a role. As reported by Front Office Sports the aforementioned game between the Chiefs and the Jets attracted 27 million viewers and was the most-watched Sunday show of any kind since the Super Bowl.
Front Office Sports added that the game also attracted an additional two million female viewers on top of the league’s average.
Unfortunately, the popular Kelce anytime touchdown scorer bet did not yield fans the results they expected. The American sports betting giant DraftKings had also launched a promotional Kelce long reception over 22 yards wager in reference to a Taylor Swift song called 22. However, that wager also failed to make bettors rich.
While Kelce performed suboptimally, NFL and Taylor Swift fans will get more chances to see him in action. Since the Chief defeated the Jets, they will proceed to the next round where they are set to face the Minnesota Vikings. That game is scheduled for October 8 and will be an opportunity to see whether the Swift mania will continue.