When the Chiefs and Buccaneers exceeded the over/under and the home team in Tampa was stomped by Kansas City, the financial shockwaves were felt by sportsbooks across the United States.
“Toughest NFL week for the sportsbook so far,” said Jason Scott, BetMGM VP of trading, of the just-wrapped NFL Week 4. “Chiefs beating the Bucs was the worst result on Sunday. Cardinals, Raiders and Cowboys were also bad outcomes for BetMGM.”
Kansas City was +110 on the money line to win outright at kickoff at most books but offered at +140 earlier in the week.
It was the first week of the NFL or college football regular season that BetRivers and PlaySugarHouse lost money, senior manager Troy Machir said. The sportsbook was left with “a -4.1.percent hold of the money,” he said.
Among the big losses for BetRivers were six-figure payments on a preseason boost for the futures market on the Philadelphia Eagles starting the season 4-0.
But the other trend that snapped Sunday was a run on the under bets — hitting at a rate of 60 percent through four weeks — for NFL game total-points-scored wagers. In addition to the Chiefs-Buccaneers (47.5 total; 72 points scored), Saints-Vikings (43.5 total; 53 points scored), Eagles-Jaguars (46.5 total; 50 points scored) and the New York Jets’ money line (+145) were big victories for the public. The Jets beat the Steelers 24-20.
PointsBet’s biggest liability was the Cardinals at +1 at Carolina. Arizona easily beat the Panthers, 26-16, and went under the 43.5 total set on the game.
At DraftKings, 79 percent of the handle on Vikings-Saints was on the Minnesota money line, and 79 percent had the Giants’ win over the Bears.
Huge wins for the public at DraftKings were also had by the 75 percent handle on the 49ers against the Rams on “Monday Night Football” and the nearly 79 percent of bets on Chiefs-Buccaneers that backed Kansas City.
In addition, three of the top four money line bets by volume from Week 4 at DraftKings were winning tickets: Packers (-425), Vikings (-130), Eagles (-260) and Bills (-165).
–Field Level Media
