In a moment of cunning insight known only to bartenders, Jeree Guarglia figures he will know which of the patrons packing his North Raleigh sports bar have serious money riding on today's Super Bowl.

More than a few, he thinks.

That is a given on America's biggest betting day, when everyone from hard-bitten players to gray-haired grannies will pony up an estimated $5 billion total in wagers -- mostly illegal or placed in the twilight world of online gambling sites.

With a practiced eye, Guarglia will spot the heavy hitter, the fan with $5 plunked into the office pool and the poseur who talks big about point spreads and over-unders but hasn't placed a bet.

"You know the guys who want to make a special day out of it with a big bet that -- win or lose -- they'll be here to cheer it on," said Guarglia, 55, who owns Tailgaters Sports Bar with his daughter, Kari.

One thing Guarglia also knows: Sports betting is illegal in North Carolina, as it is in almost every other state except Nevada, home to the only legal, full-service sports books in the country. In this Bible Belt state, the law casts a harsher eye toward gambling than in his old hometown of Corning, N.Y., where his favorite bar runs a big-money pool that Guarglia is in.

So, the back bar at Tailgaters won't have a big grid of Super Bowl squares, a popular betting game.

"You get caught, you lose your license so why risk it?" Guarglia said.

In North Carolina, betting on today's championship will run under the radar -- in the office, at a party, with the friendly neighborhood bookie or between friends. It's still illegal, but law enforcement officials such as Mike Robertson, N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement director, say they focus thin resources on big-money, commercial gambling operations.

Another legal loophole is offered by more than 1,800 online gambling sites where a long list of traditional and unconventional bets are just a mouse click away.

For the traditional gambler, there are bets on the handicapped outcome of the game and the combined score of both teams. That's where the big money rides.

But there is also a full roster of politely named "proposition bets" where wagers can be placed on everything from the coin toss to the first passing play. Bets also can be made on the performance of individual players.

To old-school gamblers, these are sucker bets. But online gambling proponents say this is the new wave of electronic betting.

This Internet action also mirrors the fragmentary effect of fantasy football leagues, whose aficionados pay as much attention to the individual performances of players on their fantasy team's roster as they do to the outcome of any game.

"If people are used to slicing and dicing the game by yards gained by a running back or catches by a receiver, it makes sense that they'll bet that way, too," said Dave Drake, 35, a webmaster who lives in Cary and works for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Online gambling sites also have pushed proposition bets into the pop culture side of the Super Bowl, offering wagers on things such as which song the Rolling Stones will sing first during their halftime show and which company's Super Bowl ads will ring up the biggest viewer response.

Because of its dual drawing power as sporting event and spectacle, the Super Bowl attracts action from people who rarely bet, said William Thompson, a gambling expert at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

"You're getting someone like me who only bets on the Super Bowl," he said. "I'll do a $100 bet. That way I'm into it, I'll pay attention to the game."

Drake agrees. He has $20 riding in his wife's office pool and will be watching the game at a friend's party.

"I didn't have allegiance to either team, so this is a way to keep it exciting," he said.