The sports books cleaned up on Sunday as the NFL teams that received the most betting action in Week 3 were losers.
The top three point spread wagers backed in terms of total number of tickets written were the Vikings (83%), Giants (81%) and Packers (79%), according to Pregame.com’s Sportsbook Spy. All three teams were favorites. All were outright losers.
There were five money line wagers that the public backed with 75% or more of total tickets written. These bets were on the Vikings (97%), Saints (95%), 49ers (85%), Packers (84%) and Falcons (75%). The Saints were the only team out of the five to win.
A money line bet requires a team to win the game outright. It does not use a point spread to determine the winner. Instead, bettors lay money when choosing a favorite. A premium is paid when an underdog is picked and there is an upset. For example, betting shops offered the 49ers money line at -500. The Colts were offered at a price of +390. Bettors that took the 49ers laid $500 for every $100 they hoped to win. Colts backers won $390 for every $100 wagered, while money line bets on the 49ers lost.
The biggest money maker for sports books on Sunday may have been the heavily favored Vikings losing to the Browns. The money line was -360. If all tickets were of equal value, for every $9,700 wagered on the Vikings, only $300 was wagered on the Browns. Of that $10,000, only $840 was returned to bettors that picked the Browns to win. All tickets were not equal in terms of bet size, but this gives a general idea as to how the sports books enjoyed the NFL action from Week 3.
The books won more than just money line and point spread wagers on Sunday. If teaser bets matched point spread wagers, the books cleaned up there too. That is because most of the point spreads heavily backed by the public missed the number substantially due to all of the upsets.
A teaser is a wager where players may pick two or more games and add points in their favor. Teaser bets generally come in 6, 6.5 and 7 point varieties, although each sports book has its own rules. Parlay cards were also likely to have fallen victim to Sunday’s upsets.
Bettors did manage to make a small comeback Sunday night when the Bears won and covered against the Steelers. Pregame’s Sportsbook Spy estimates that 71% of the tickets written by bookmakers were on the Bears.
NFL bettors have one more chance to get back to even during Week 3 Monday night when the Raiders (+15.5) visit the Broncos. Divisional games with large point spreads can be a trap. In 2009, the Raiders upset the Broncos in Denver as 13.5 point underdogs. The Raiders were 4-9 entering that contest.
The Raiders are 1-1 in the first two weeks of 2013. They lost a close game to the Colts in Week 1, while beating the lowly Jaguars in Week 2 by 10 points.
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