Betting buzz: Sports equinox sees bump for cross-sport parlays
Credit to Author: ESPN| Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:12:09 EST
Everything that happens in sports has some additional context when viewed from a sports betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the sports news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans with a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation.
Key links: Sports betting home | NFL odds page | College football odds page | ESPN BET 
Doug Greenberg: Monday marked the 31st “Sports Equinox” in history and the only one taking place in 2024. With the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS all in action, bettors celebrated the occasion the best way they knew how.
Since Monday morning, sports betting tracking tool Pikkit says that it saw 11,050 parlays placed at sportsbooks around the country that used the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL. For reference, the same timeframe a week prior saw only 345 such parlays, an over 3100% increase (with the obvious caveat that not all of those games would have been played on the same day).
Pikkit, which allows bettors to sync up and track their sportsbook accounts, says that the New York Yankees moneyline (-150 at ESPN BET) was the most popular leg of these parlays with 1,750 containing it. Pittsburgh Steelers moneyline (-275) and Juan Soto over 0.5 hits (-180) were the next most popular in 1,410 and 1,150 parlays, respectively.
Regardless of cross-sport parlays, the NFL reigned supreme in total bets, per usual, with ESPN BET reporting the “Monday Night Football” contest between the New York Giants and Steelers as its most popular event of the night by tickets; Pittsburgh came in as the overall most-bet moneyline out of all the evening’s events. World Series Game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yankees was the second-most-bet event, but the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks moneylines were both more popular than either moneyline in that contest.
The Sports Equinox proved to be a difficult night for New York sports teams in general: New York City became the first metro area to lose an NFL, MLB, NBA and MLS game in the same night, per OptaSTATS, with the upstate Buffalo Sabres also falling on Monday night.
Purdum: Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is expected to play in Game 3 of the World Series on Monday night in New York, but the Dodgers are still underdogs.
The New York Yankees are as high as -160 favorites at ESPN BET, with the Dodgers listed as +135 underdogs for Game 3. The Dodgers have been underdogs in only 15 games this season, including the postseason, the fewest of any team. They are 4-11 in those games.
Ohtani is dealing with a partially dislocated shoulder suffered in Game 2. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Sunday he expects Ohtani to play Monday.
Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said they moved the price on the Yankees up “10 cents” due to Ohtani’s injury, a slight adjustment that reflected the bookmaker’s belief that Ohtani would play.
“It is the World Series, and players (rarely) get a chance to win it all,” Mucklow told ESPN on Sunday. “The injury would have to be significant for him not to give it at least a go, which swayed our cautious line move. Postseason baseball is about pitching. It may have been more of a move if he had been pitching this year, but this is not the year.”
John Murray, executive director of the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said his shop also opened the odds to win Game 3 with the Yankees a little higher because of the “must-win factor” and Ohtani’s injury. The Dodgers lead the series, 2-0. Murray said the price on the Yankees has come down 10-12 cents since it opened.
Ohtani is +320 to hit a home run in Game 3 at ESPN BET.
Kennesaw State gets their first-ever win against an FBS opponent by beating previously undefeated Liberty 27-24.
Greenberg: The beauty of college football is one never knows where or when a massive upset might be lurking.
On Wednesday night, the Kennesaw State Owls notched their first win of the season with a 27-24 victory over the Liberty Flames after coming into the contest as 27.5-point underdogs, per ESPN BET odds. It’s the second-biggest outright upset of the season, just behind Northern Illinois (+28.5) over Notre Dame and ahead of Vanderbilt (+22.5) over Alabama.
That second outright win by an underdog of 27 points or greater through October is tied for the most in such FBS matchups since the 1978 FBS/FCS split, according to ESPN Research. The Owls were +1300 underdogs on the money line coming into the contest and were as long as +2500 on the live line.
The start of the NBA season meant that this contest might not have lived up to the handle of previous midweek college football games, with BetMGM saying that all of Wednesday’s NBA games took more bets than Liberty-Kennesaw State. Nevertheless, the members of the public who did bet on it largely lost, as BetMGM, DraftKings and ESPN BET all reported a majority of bets and handle on the Flames’ spread, topping out at 74% of the tickets and 83% of the money.
There is still time this year for more huge outright upsets: Since 2020, there have been at least four outright upsets of 22.5 points or more every season, with a high of six in 2021, per ESPN Research.