Sports betting roundup: Close games in all sports make for betting excitement
Exciting baseball playoff games, lots of upsets in college football and NFL games that came down to the final seconds all made for a thrilling weekend for sports bettors.
Trends of the Week
In one of the best NFL games on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens came away with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals 41-38 in overtime. The back-and-forth swings, including a Baltimore fumble and a Cincinnati missed field goal, in overtime were big for bettors with 73% of the bets and 67% of the money on the Ravens covering as 2.5-point favorites at the BetMGM sportsbook.
The three most bet teams in terms of number of bets against the spread all covered on Sunday — the Minnesota Vikings (-2.5), Washington Commanders (-3) and Ravens (-2.5).
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty now has the best odds to win the Heisman Trophy at +225. On Saturday against Utah State, he ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns in the 62-30 victory. He also hit the first touchdown scorer, which was +140, and anytime touchdown of -2000.
Upsets of the Week
The biggest upset of the weekend was No. 1 Alabama falling to unranked Vanderbilt 40-35 on the road. The Crimson Tide were a 23.5-point favorite and took in 62% of the bets and 63% of the money in against-the-spread betting. Vanderbilt was +1100 on the moneyline, and only 32% of the money was on them.
Like the Ravens-Bengals game, the Sunday night game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers also had many swings. Dallas’ touchdown with 20 seconds remaining gave the Cowboys a 20-17 victory in a game in which they were 2.5-point underdogs. Pittsburgh took in 64% of the bets and 70% of the money.
The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets are knotted at 1-1 in the NLDS after two exciting games on Saturday and Sunday. Trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning of Game 1, New York scored five runs to blow the game open and come away with a 5-1 victory. The Mets were +155 to win and only took in 35% of the money. In Game 2, the Phillies were -150 and took in 71% of the money. Philadelphia won the game 7-6.
Coming Up
In the college football odds to win the national championship, Ohio State still has the best odds at +300. They are also the most popular team among bettors, taking in the most bets (15.4%) and the second-most money (17.3%).
Georgia, which is +500, is taking in the most money (17.6%) on the third-most bets (11.5%).
Texas has the second-best odds at +450 and is generating the second-most money (11.9%) and the third-most bets (11.6%).
___
This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports