It was an up and down weekend for the books, but the highlight came from an anonymous bettor in Indiana who bet the farm on Ohio State +7.5 in the College Football Playoff.
The bettor might want to send Clemson coach Dabo Swinney a thank you card, as the coach provided the Buckeyes with some bulletin board material before their matchup.
A bettor known as the “Indiana Man” wagered $1.3 million dollars on Ohio State +7.5 against Clemson, placed with FanDuel Sportsbook. He didn’t even need the points, as the Buckeyes beat the Tigers straight up, winning 49-28.
The gambler cashed out a lovely $2,431,000 (including his wager) ticket when it was all said and done. As Teddy KGB so famously said in Rounders, “pay that man his money.”
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NFL Weekend recap
Week 17 is known to be tough for bookmakers and it showed this past weekend. While sportsbooks closed out the fourth quarter of 2020 with stellar numbers, 2021’s first NFL Sunday gave back a little to the bettors. Favorites went 14-2 straight-up and 7-9 against the spread. As for totals, overs went 10-6.
Bettors got the best of PointsBet Sportsbook on the Green Bay Packers (35-16 win at the Chicago Bears), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (44-27 win vs. the Atlanta Falcons), and the Baltimore Ravens (38-3 win at the Cincinnati Bengals).
The Los Angeles Chargers covering against the Kansas City Chiefs, the New Orleans Saints covering against the Carolina Panthers and the Ravens covering against the Bengals were all bad results for The Borgata in Atlantic City.
But, it wasn’t all bad news for oddsmakers, mostly thanks to the Miami Dolphins laying a dud against the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants taking down the Dallas Cowboys.
“The biggest decision for us was the Buffalo-Miami game,” Thomas Gable, Sportsbook Director at The Borgata, said. “The blowout win by Buffalo was great for us. Everyone piled on Miami on Sunday morning when news started coming out about Buffalo’s inactives.”
Multiple sportsbooks pointed out the Giants win as a plus. “New York winning outright against Dallas was also big for us in the early games,” Gable said.
PointsBet enjoyed the performances of the Houston Texans (covering in a 41-38 loss vs. the Tennessee Titans), Giants (23-19 win vs. the Cowboys) and the total going Under in the Cardinals-Rams (25 points scored).
“Bettors seemed to shy away altogether or play a bit more conservatively given the sheer uncertainty surrounding multiple Week 17 matchups, as per usual,” Patrick Eichner, Director of Communications for PointsBet Sportsbook, said. "The handle was down 20% from last week and almost 30% compared to the season average,” per Eichner.
As for crazy futures bets, there was a bettor who risked $100,000 on the Indianapolis Colts to win their division back in November at The Borgata. “Indianapolis needed a win and a Tennessee loss on Sunday to secure the division,” Gable explained.
We know how the story ended, but Gable put it eloquently, so here are his words on what happened.
“I’m sure that bettor was glued to his TV watching the end of the Tennessee-Houston game which came down to the last second field goal attempt from Tennessee that hit the upright and went in,” Gable said. “It was certainly not a fortuitous bounce off the upright for that gentleman, but it gave the Titans the division.”
Big contest winners
The Las Vegas contests crowned their winners last night. The Circa Survivor contest paid out $2.39 million, and the Circa Million winner went to champion DSR90. The SuperContest at the SuperBook paid out $439,623 to contestant ODBMG2.
Bad Beats
I can feel the pain of the Seattle Seahawks -7 ticket holders. Despite having a 26-16 lead with less than a minute to go, the Hawks did not cover. A late touchdown from Niners QB C.J. Beathard to Jeff Wilson sealed their fate, as Seattle ended up winning just 26-23.
On the flip side of the coin, the Niners were in that game the entire way through and actually led 9-6 at halftime. Was it truly a bad beat, though? You make the call.
NFL Wild Card Weekend:
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