Chiefs favored to win 2022 Super Bowl, Raiders long shots
The Kansas City Chiefs are not only favored to win Super Bowl LV over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they’re also the clear 5-1 favorites at William Hill and the Westgate sportsbooks to win Super Bowl LVI next year.
The Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills are tied for the 10-1 second choice at the Westgate, which lists the Bucs, Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints at 12-1.
“Kansas City is still young enough to be the favorite,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “The Packers, Bills and Buccaneers had good years and didn’t get too old overnight.”
Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady is 43 but is under contract through next season and has said many times he plans to play until he’s 45.
“It doesn’t look like he’s slowing down any,” Bogdanovich said. “The Bucs will be a factor again.”
Silver and black lining
The Raiders are 40-1 long shots at William Hill and the Westgate to win the 2022 Super Bowl. They’re in a pack of five teams tied for the 17th pick at William Hill to win it all next year.
“I think the Raiders can come out of that pack. I really do,” Bogdanovich said. “They know where their weaknesses are and they can shore them up. (QB Derek) Carr proved he could play. They’ve got some cap room and they’ve got some draft picks. They’re in pretty good shape that way.
“If they can get a defensive piece or two and make a few key acquisitions, I think they could be all right.”
The Raiders are a 20-1 shot to win the AFC title, tied for 10th with the Tennessee Titans. The Chiefs are +250 favorites, followed by the Bills (5-1), Ravens (6-1) and Miami Dolphins (10-1).
Super Bowl line
Kansas City is a consensus 3-point favorite (-120) over Tampa Bay in the NFL championship game after the line opened at 3½ at multiple books Sunday night.
The Chiefs are -3 (-110) at the South Point and -3½ (Even) at Station Casinos.
“I think (the line) will stay on and off 3 and 3½,” Bogdanovich said.
The consensus total is 56½ after Bogdanovich said there was sharp money on under 57½ and under 57.
“Two weeks from now, we’ll be rooting for the under big time,” he said. “The masses will be on the over.”
Books win on McGregor
Las Vegas books were small winners when Conor McGregor suffered an upset loss to Dustin Poirier on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 257.
The masses were all over McGregor, who soared from -220 to -400 over Poirier before dropping to -330 at William Hill, where 87 percent of the money was on McGregor as of Friday. But the big bets were on Poirier, who stopped McGregor via second-round technical knockout in their lightweight match at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
A William Hill bettor at Bally’s won $540,000 on a $200,000 wager placed on Poirier at +270.
“Because of that bet, it was almost a wash,” Bogdanovich said.
A BetMGM bettor won $270,000 on a $100,000 wager on Poirier (+270).
“The main event was a winner for us even though we did have the $100,000 bet on Poirier,” MGM Resorts director of trading Jeff Stoneback said. “There were lots of McGregor bets but no $100,000 bets on him.”
The Westgate had a similar result on the popular McGregor’s first UFC fight in a year.
“We did OK,” Westgate sportsbook director John Murray said. “We had a guy come in at the end and bet $30,000 on Dustin +275 (that won $82,500), which cut into our profits. McGregor was in so many parlays.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.