Patrick Everson

FOX Sports Betting Analyst

In the NFL’s Week 7 odds market, the public betting masses couldn’t match the huge winnings they brought in Week 6. But for the second week in a row, it was still generally better to be a gambler than a bookmaker.

That would have been much more true if the New York Jets had delivered Sunday night.

“The day really came down to the last game. We really needed the Steelers,” said Scott Shelton of BetMGM Nevada.

And they got it.

Oddsmakers at sportsbooks across the country are helping wrap up the weekend with NFL and college football betting.

Public opinion

On Sunday morning, Tristan Davis – a senior trader for BetMGM nationally – set the table. His sportsbook and most other operators needed underdogs to stem last week’s bleeding.

“The book is desperate for more dogs to cover and hopefully win this weekend. Bills, Commanders, Bengals and Eagles are all heavily backed at the moment,” Davis said.

So what happened in the end?

• Buffalo, a 9.5-point favorite, rolled over Tennessee 34-10.
• Washington, a 10-point favorite, defeated Carolina 40-7 even after losing rookie QB Jayden Daniels (ribs) early in the first quarter.
• Cincinnati defeated Cleveland 21-14, covering a 5.5-point favorite.
• Philadelphia defeated the New York Giants 28-3 and emerged as a 3-point favorite.

Those four games helped pile up money for the public. Plus, you had the Kansas City Chiefs in the rare position of an underdog, which the crowd loved.

Davis said ahead of KC’s Super Bowl rematch with the San Francisco 49ers:

“The Chiefs keep taking more and more money. We will advocate for the Niners.”

Final score: Kansas City 28, San Fran 18.

Before Sunday night football, Davis summarized:

‘Today is a public day. Gamblers have had a strong few weeks.”

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Kings for a Day (again)

DraftKings Sportsbook customers definitely had a banner on Sunday. In point spread betting, the top five teams with tickets – the total number of bets on those teams – all won and covered count:

• Bengal
• Eagles
• Bills
• Commanders
• Lions

We’ve already covered the first four teams on that list. Detroit is of course an extremely popular team with the gambling public. The Lions were 1-point underdogs at the undefeated Minnesota Vikings and won 31-29 on a late field goal.

For those keeping track – and that should be you at this point – the Lions are 27-9 straight (SU) and 28-8 against the spread (ATS) in their last 36 games. That’s a scorching hot spread coverage ratio of 77.7.

Give and take

That said, oddsmakers managed to bounce back a bit here and there. As mentioned above, Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh finished as 2.5-point home underdogs, defeating the New York Jets 37-15.

Multiple sportsbooks in Vegas and nationally mentioned a Steelers need on Sunday night.

And interestingly enough, The SuperBook saw a lot of Chiefs action in Nevada, but still needed Kansas City against San Francisco.

“We’ve made some big bets on San Francisco,” said SuperBook CEO John Murray.

Likewise, even though BetMGM was more of a 49ers fan nationally, BetMGM sportsbooks in Las Vegas saw a lot of Niners activity.

“After losing some big calls in the early games — Bills over the Titans and the Eagles destroying the Giants — the late games looked bleak,” said Shelton of BetMGM Nevada. “But we actually needed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs for a change because of multiple six-figure bets on the 49ers.

“The Raiders providing cover against the Rams was also helpful.”

Las Vegas lost to LA 20-15, but were covered as a 7-point underdog on the road.

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On Campus

Saturday’s undoubtedly slam-dunk game of the week was Georgia vs. Texas. And the outcome was quite surprising.

The Bulldogs were 4-point underdogs on the road, but jumped out to a 23-0 halftime lead en route to a 30-15 victory. Nationally, BetMGM recorded some great two-way action in that match. In fact, the total of 57 turned out to be more important than the point spread or the moneyline.

“Georgia-Texas falling short of the total was big,” BetMGM trading manager Seamus Magee said.

But just like in the NFL on Sunday, a regional bias crept in and did some damage. BetMGM’s Beau Rivage sportsbook in Biloxi, Miss. – the heart of SEC country – took a bath with the Bulldogs.

“Georgia was a disaster for us,” Beau Rivage sportsbook manager Carl Johnson said. “We needed Texas here because we had a big player that had Georgia in addition to UCLA and Baylor.”

In fact, the bettor had these three teams for all intents and purposes: individual point spread bets on each team, along with parlays for two and three teams. UCLA was a 4-point road underdog and defeated Rutgers outright 35-32, while Baylor was a 5-point road underdog and routed Texas Tech 59-35.

In total, the customer had seven bets involving Georgia and/or UCLA and Baylor, and won all seven. So it made Georgia’s outcome hard to swallow.

“Nationally, I believe BetMGM came out strong for the game. We took one for the team here,” Johnson said.

In another game with huge implications, Magee said Tennessee — a 3.5-point underdog at home — saved BetMGM from a national losing day with a 24-17 lead at Alabama.

“But there were certainly some games that had bettors happy, Auburn-Mizzou and Miami-Louisville to name a few,” Magee said.

Missouri rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Auburn 21-17, barely covering a 3.5-point home favorite. Miami held off Louisville to win a high-flying affair 52-45 as a four-point road favorite.

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and a senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a leading national sports betting journalist. He is based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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