Exciting games in college football, another slate of games in the NFL, the start of the WNBA playoffs and baseball nearing the end of its season all made for a big week in sports betting.
In NFL betting, like in Week 2, there were a number of upsets, including to some of the most-bet teams at the BetMGM online sportsbook.
Trends of the Week
On Sunday Night Football, the Kansas City Chiefs hung on to beat the Atlanta Falcons 22-17. Atlanta turned the ball over on downs on its final two possessions, including on the Kansas City 13-yard line. This was good for bettors, with 75% of the bets and 66% of the money on the Chiefs to cover the three-point spread. The same went for the moneyline with 72% of the bets and 82% of the money on the Chiefs.
One prop did go against the Chiefs in a tough way: the over for Patrick Mahomes’ rushing yards (19.5). Mahomes had 30 rushing yards before he took kneel-downs at the end of the game of -5, -4 and -4 yards to finish with 17.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever opened the WNBA playoffs at Connecticut, where the Sun were 6.5-point favorites. They took in 32% of the bets and 46% of the money in against-the-spread betting. Connecticut ended up blowing out Indiana 93-69. Clark finished with 11 points, four rebounds and eight assists. Her player props for over points (20.5), under assists (8.5) and over 3-pointers made (3.5) were the most bet for the game. Two of the three did not hit.
Upsets of the Week
The three most-bet teams in terms of money to cover the spread on Sunday in the NFL were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-6), New Orleans Saints (-3) and Tennessee Titans (-3). Not only did all three fail to cover, but all three lost straight up.
It was a similar story with the NFL anytime touchdown scorer market. Three of the four most-bet players in terms of bets placed did not score. Rashid Shaheed (+150), Davante Adams (+140) and CeeDee Lamb (+100) did not find the end zone, while Justin Fields (+250) did.
One of the best college football games of the weekend was Michigan upsetting Southern California 27-24. USC was a 4.5-point favorite and took in 75% of the bets and 74% of the money.
Coming Up
With one week left in the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers (+325) are still the favorites to win the World Series in MLB betting.
Right behind them are the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies, who are both +450. The Houston Astros are right behind at +800. Those four teams are the only ones with odds better than +1000.
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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.
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