Here's a look at the top stories for the week, top bets cashed and what's next in the world of sports betting.
NFL Playoff Race Heats Up: NFL Week 17 is here, with all 32 teams playing and several playoff spots still to be decided. The Cleveland Browns won the Thursday Night Football matchup and seven teams have now secured their spots in the NFL Playoffs, leaving seven more positions yet to be determined. Current playoff teams include the Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions and San Francisco 49ers.
The rest of the Week 17 slate includes a primetime Saturday night game between the playoff bound Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions, which airs on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+, all units of The Walt Disney Company DIS. A Sunday Night Football matchup on Comcast Corporation CMCSA owned NBC sees the Minnesota Vikings (7-8) and Green Bay Packers (7-8) battle, with both teams still in the playoff hunt.
Sportsbooks Clean Up In NFL Week 16: Needham analyst Bernie McTernan shared that DraftKings DKNG and other sportsbooks likely saw a strong Week 16 thanks to only two of the top five NFL favorites winning during the week and none of the top five covering their spreads.
McTernan also found that the DraftKings app ranked third for a second straight week in the sports category on the iOS app store, beating rival FanDuel. ESPN bet from PENN Entertainment PENN, which has ranked number one since launching, fell to second place for the week, behind daily fantasy app PrizePicks.
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Big Bet: An NFL bettor won nearly $500,000 on a $5 bet thanks to 14 National Football Leagues players scoring touchdowns during Week 16. Anytime touchdown bets have become increasingly popular with bettors and the parlay took things to the next level, needing all the players to find the endzone to cash.
The $5 bet placed with DraftKings had odds of +9,787,560 and paid out $489,383.01. While the parlay included popular touchdown plays like Christian McCaffrey, Najee Harris, Jonathan Taylor and Jahmyr Gibbs, the bet also included Gabe Davis scoring after failing to catch a pass in two straight Buffalo Bills games and Commanders running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. scoring his first ever NFL touchdown.
NCAA Football Bowl Games: The New Year's holiday coincides with the New Year's Six Bowl Games, which will be aired Friday, Saturday and Sunday on ESPN and, in some cases, available for streaming on ESPN+. Let’s take a closer look at the lineup of these games:
- Friday, Dec. 29: #9 Missouri vs. #7 Ohio States, 8 p.m. ET
- Saturday, Dec. 30: #11 Ole Miss vs. #10 Penn State, Noon ET
- Saturday, Dec. 30: #6 Georgia vs. #5 Florida State, 4 p.m. ET
- Sunday, Jan. 1: #23 Liberty vs. #8 Oregon, 1 p.m. ET
- Sunday, Jan. 1: #4 Alabama vs. #1 Michigan, 5 p.m. ET
- Sunday, Jan. 1: #3 Texas vs. #2 Washington, 8:45 p.m. ET
The winners of the last two games on Jan. 1 will face off in the 2023 NCAA Football Championship game on Jan. 8.
Detroit Pistons Streak: The NBA season has been rich with various storylines, including rookie performances, LeBron James‘ continuing career in his later years, and players adapting to their roles on new teams.
The 2023-2024 NBA season has also been one for the record books for the wrong reasons, with the Detroit Pistons breaking the previous single season record of 27 consecutive losses. The team marked their 28th consecutive defeat, a 122-128 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics. Despite being 18.5-point underdogs and widely expected to lose, the Pistons nearly achieved an upset before ultimately extending their losing streak.
Benzinga shared a breakdown of how a bettor, by placing a $100 bet on each of the Detroit Pistons’ opponents and rolling over the winnings after each game, could have turned their initial investment into $848,514.17 today, following the Pistons’ streak of 28 consecutive losses.
At DraftKings, bettors can predict which game the Pistons will win next, with a Dec. 30 matchup against the Toronto Raptors listed as the favorite with odds of +175.
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