Sports betting roundup: NFL betting returns with preseason football game
In the first full week of action, some teams opted to rest their starters, while others played a few series and in some instances even more than that.
Besides the NFL, there was also plenty of baseball and an exciting first week of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs.
Trends of the Week
The underdogs and overs dominated the first week of the NFL preseason. At the BetMGM online sportsbook, through 16 preseason games, underdogs have gone 12-4 against the spread, while overs are 14-2.
Both overs hit on Sunday, as the Dolphins-Bears over/under closed at 37 and easily went over in a 24-24 tie. Then, the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints over/under closed at 38 and 13 fourth-quarter points allowed the over to hit, with the Chargers winning 27-13.
The Milwaukee Brewers (-120) against the New York Mets on Sunday were the most bet team in terms of the number of bets placed and money wagered. The Brewers came back from a 5-0 deficit to beat the Mets 7-6.
Upsets of the Week
On Sunday, the Toronto Blue Jays were +155 against the Los Angeles Dodgers and came away with a 5-4 win. Despite being underdogs against the best team in the game, Toronto took in 74% of the bets and 79% of the money.
In the PGA Tour's first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Justin Rose came away with the victory. Rose finished at 16 under and beat J.J. Spaun on the third playoff hole. Going into the event, Rose was +6600 and took in 0.5% of the bets and 0.1% of the money in pre-tournament outright winner betting.
Coming Up
After the first week of the NFL preseason, there has been slight movement in the Super Bowl odds market.
Three teams — the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles — are the favorites at +700 odds. The Kansas City Chiefs (+800) and Detroit Lions (+1000) round out the top five.
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This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM online sportsbook.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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