There is a popular belief that sportsbooks take an equal amount of money on both sides of a game to guarantee a profit. Is it fact or fiction?
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Todd Dewey
Todd Dewey covers sports betting for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
tdewey@reviewjournal.com … @tdewey33 on Twitter. 702-383-0354
The Los Angeles Lakers (27-31), the +350 second choice to win the NBA title in the preseason, soared to 50-1 on Wednesday, their longest odds of the season.
Las Vegas sportsbooks won millions Sunday when the Rams defeated the Bengals, but didn’t cover the 4½-point spread and the game stayed under the total of 48½.
Prolific Las Vegas football contest winner Cris Zeniuk leans to the Cincinnati Bengals to cover as 4½-point underdogs over the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
About 25 bettors lined up at the Westgate SuperBook and were allowed to place two maximum wagers to win $2,000 each before heading to the back of the line to do it again.
Caesars Sportsbook took a $180,000 bet to win $100,000 on the Rams over the Bengals on the money line (-180) within minutes of the line going up for Super Bowl LVI.
The South Point took sharp bets of $165,000 to win $100,000 on the Los Angeles Rams on the money line (-165) and $220,000 to win $200,000 on the San Francisco 49ers +3½.
Kansas City’s win was a major swing in favor of the sportsbooks because it denied countless bettors a four-team money-line underdog parlay that would’ve paid about 40-1.
Hank Goldberg has made a career out of trying to beat the odds, most notably as a longtime horse racing analyst and NFL reporter and prognosticator for ESPN.
The Cowboys led the NFL with a 13-4 ATS record in the regular season, but they failed to deliver in the playoffs, losing 23-17 to the 49ers on Sunday as 3½-point home favorites.
The Curses of the Bambino and Billy Goat have been broken. But some believe the Curse of Bo Jackson continues to haunt the Cincinnati Bengals.
Bettors loaded up on the Raiders and won big when they advanced to the playoffs with an overtime win over the Chargers. BetMGM alone lost almost $1 million on the game.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as high as -600 at the Westgate SuperBook to repeat as NFL MVP, is still available at -450 at Boyd Gaming and -400 at BetMGM.
The betting public was all over the Colts in a game that saw the line soar to 8½ on Sunday when Indianapolis quarterback Carson Wentz was cleared to play.
Alabama is a 13½-point favorite over Cincinnati in Friday’s CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl, and Georgia is a 7½-point favorite over Michigan at the Orange Bowl.