With the NFL playoffs well underway, the Super Bowl is almost here.

It’s the biggest sporting event of the year, and with that draws the most betting action of all sports, beating out March Madness, the Kentucky Derby and World Cup soccer.

For some it’s the pure excitement of the biggest football game all year, for others it’s the attention-grabbing commercials, and for some, watching is just a reason to participate in the Monday talks around the water cooler.

Whatever reason, it doesn’t matter, and the only thing better than watching the Super Bowl, is correctly picking a Super Bowl winner and making a few bucks while doing it.

However, to give handicappers the best chances of grabbing some dough, they must avoid simple, costly mistakes. With that we have put together a list of the most common mistakes that Super Bowl bettors make.

First, bettors should never wager with emotion.

Most football handicappers are first, fans of the game, and with that have their favorites. But, they should not get caught up in the hype, which could sway their betting decision based on just liking one team more than the other.

Leading up to the big game, there will obviously be a barrage of media coverage, and one team will appear to emerge as the public’s favorite.  But as good handicappers know that they would never make a decision during the regular football season based purely on emotion, the same should remain true for betting on the Super Bowl.  NFL bettors should wager only after plenty of research is done that can confirm that they are betting on the right side.

Handicappers should also never ever commit to media hype, as everyone has an opinion, but not necessarily one that is always based on fact.  Hype builds on itself, and smart football handicappers need to only focus on credible reports, not gossip or hearsay.

Many handicappers get way too excited after the conference championship games and place their Super Bowl bet soon afterwards. But the only real reason to bet that early is if they expect a big line movement, and that movement  is going to have a huge impact on their  bottom line.

The truth is, the longer a handicapper waits to bet on the Super Bowl, the better information regarding injuries, mental preparedness of teams and the public impact on the lines they will have.

Next, Super Bowl bettors should avoid overplaying prop bets.

Prop bets are fun, but there are a ridiculous number of these bets offered for the Super Bowl, and while some offer real value, many more are just sucker bets.

As good example of this is wagering on the outcome of the coin toss, which only offers bettors a 50/50 chance, and is a bet designed to rob handicappers of their money. On the other hand, a prop bet that makes statistical sense, like the number of passes a quarterback might complete during the Super Bowl, might be one worth wagering on.

Bottom line, there is no worse way to end Super Sunday, than having successfully picked and bet on the winning side, but lost too much money overall by wagering on losing props.

Finally, handicappers need to make sure they are not blowing their wad all at once.

The Super Bowl is a hard game to handicap, even for seasoned NFL bettors.

So, betting too much could turn a winning year into a losing one. And that’s no way any football handicapper wants to end the NFL football season.