Gladys Knight’s national anthem was excellent but controversial for betting companies

Tom Brady wasn’t the only winner this past Super Bowl Sunday. Those who bet on Gladys Knight’s performance also had something to smile about.

She’s given us hits like “Midnight Train To Georgia” and “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”. She was inducted into the Georgia Hall of Game in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

One would think that at 74 Gladys Knight would be slowing down, but her performance at the Super Bowl LIII banished such thoughts. The Empress of Soul brought down the stadium with her rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Ms. Knight dressed to impress. Her knee-length white dress was embellished with crystals and sported three-quarter-length sleeves. She matched the outfit with a pair of glittering booties and topped it all off with a sparkly tiara.

The soul legend started out soft but was belting out each line as she sang the final verses of the anthem. The way she sustained those final notes had many marveling at her performance – including the gamblers.

According to the AJC, the Super Bowl is the most heavily bet event of the year. Apart from betting on the teams and the scores, prop bets are made on things like what outfit the singer of the national anthem is wearing, and whether all the words were sung or some were forgotten.

Yahoo! Sports reports that bets can be made on the color of the outfit of the person who sings the national anthem. Bets are also placed on whether he/she forgets any of the words. One of the more popular bets is the duration of the national anthem.

The over-under for Gladys’ rendition was set at 1 minute, 45 seconds by Bovada, an online gambling site. The singer sang her heart out for 1 minute, 47 seconds but sustained the “brave” note and is thought to have added another “brave” at the end. That made her unofficial time 2 minutes, 1 second.

As the prop bets are scored at the conclusion of the first “brave”, some sports books timed the song differently, which caused a bit of an issue.

Bet Online decided to pay out both the over and under.

Twitter had nothing but love for the singer.

We would not have the memory of Gladys’ beautiful rendition of the national anthem if the artist had bowed to pressure.

When the NFL announced that Ms. Knight would be performing at the Super Bowl, many felt that she should decline like Rihanna did, support of Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since he took a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality racial injustice.

But the songstress had something else in mind.

“I am here today… to give the anthem back its voice, to stand for that historic choice of words, the way it unites us when we hear it and to free it from the same prejudices and struggles I have fought long and hard for all my life…”

Many social media users urged Gladys to also decline in protest, but the soul singer decided to perform because of what she felt the anthem stands for. “This is my country. This is my state, my city and I love my country. It’s really as simple as that,” said Gladys.

Choosing to stand with Colin Kaepernick may be an honorable endeavor, but we believe that many are happy that Gladys chose to stand for the nation.