The sports betting market continues to grow with more states legalizing and more platforms launching. One of the most anticipated launches in some time is nearing reality with ESPN Bet set to debut.
Here’s a look back at some of the top storylines and bets from the past week.
ESPN Bet: In August, the long-awaited plans for ESPN Bet were finally announced. Surprising many in the sports betting sector it was PENN Entertainment Inc PENN that landed a licensing deal with Walt Disney Co DIS for the ESPN Bet platform.
PENN Entertainment is betting big on the launch, which is slated for November, ending its previous relationship with Barstool Sports and the Barstool Sportsbook brand.
Earlier this week, the ESPN Bet logo was unveiled, building on the hype of the launch. The logo is said to contain the “universally recognizable ESPN” in the logo, highlighting the trust that people have in the sports brand.
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Regulation Updates: The pending online sports betting legalization in the state of North Carolina could be closer according to a report from Action Network. The report said the North Carolina Lottery Commission held its inaugural meeting Tuesday and has started working on rules for the state’s launch.
A public comment session is now scheduled for Oct. 27, which will take place before final rules and future plans for license applications in the state.
Another key market to watch is the state of Florida, which Benzinga recently reported on. The U.S. Department of Interior filed an opposition to the application by West Flagler Associates in the ongoing case, as shared by Legal Sports Report. The state remains a key market for potential legalized online sports betting, but may also see one party having full control depending on how things shake out.
Big Bets: Parlays, which are bets that contain more than one bet and all have to hit, continue to gain in popularity thanks to the massive payouts that some have realized. The bets become the ultimate high-risk, high-reward play for bettors and many sportsbooks offer boosted odds on this type of bet.
One bettor hit one of the biggest parlays ever reported for the sport of tennis. As shared by Action Network reporter Darren Rovell, a bettor at DraftKings Inc DKNG placed a $28.60 bet on a parlay with eight legs across the WTA Tour and ATP Tour. Unlike many bets that just wager on who will win a tennis match, this parlay successfully predicted the specific match score of all 10 matches.
The bettor turned the $28.60 into a win of $486,021.92. Not a bad day for betting on tennis.
Another parlay that caught the attention of many was a 10-team NFL bet for week 6 placed with STN Sports. The $250 bet parlayed the outcomes of 10 NFL matches in week 6 with the spread included. With the Cowboys successfully covering the -1.5 spread on Monday Night Football, the bet was a winner turning $250 into a profit of $199,750.
Outside of the big parlay wins, there were also several big names in the betting space with big wagers recently.
Musician Drake, who is partnered with cryptocurrency betting platform Stake, placed an $850,000 wager on Logan Paul to defeat Dillon Danis in a boxing match. As shared by Bleacher Report, Logan successfully defeated Davis in the fight by disqualification.
While Drake successfully picked the winner of the match, he bet specifically on Paul winning by knockout, which made his large wager a losing one. Drake made the bet in Bitcoin BTC/USD and would have won $1.35 million if Paul had won by KO.
Legendary bettor Jim McIngvale, known to many as Mattress Mack, broke records last year for his winnings on the Houston Astros successful in the MLB World Series. McIngavle is back again supporting the Astros with a total of $6.9 million wagered on the team to win the World Series. If the team can successfully win back-to-back, McIngvale could win $43.4 million.
Sports Seasons Heat Up: Sports bettors are likely loving this time of year with the NFL season in full swing, NCAA Football going on, MLB Playoffs in full gear, the NHL recently starting and the NBA and NCAA Basketball right around the corner.
The first AP Poll for the 2023-2024 NCAA Basketball season was released with Kansas ranking first. The team is also favored at sportsbooks with odds of +1,000.
Kansas is followed by Duke at +1,100 and Purdue at +1,200, both in the poll and at sportsbooks.
There are some surprises though with Kentucky ranked 16th and coming in fourth in the odds at +1,400. Benzinga shared that past history of Kansas getting the number one ranking hasn’t turned out too well for the team or bettors.
For NFL bettors, there are no longer any undefeated teams left in the 2023 season with the two unbeaten teams (Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers) both losing in Week 6.
Entering Week 7, there are five teams tied with 5-1 records with the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.
For bettors who bet on the spread, or the number of points a team needs to win by or can lose by, it is the Lions and Dolphins who top the chart at Covers with 5-1 records straight up and also against the spread. Ranking third on spread bets are the Los Angeles Rams at 4-1-1, despite a 3-3 record overall.
Another big trend for NFL bettors has been low-scoring games, with the unders cashing more often than not on the over/under bet which tracks the total points in an NFL game.
In week 6, the unders were 12-2-1, the best week since 1996. Through the first six weeks, unders were 56-36-1.
The NCAA Football season is well underway and there are still 11 teams that remain unbeaten. Among the unbeaten teams are Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State, which started the season as the first, third and fourth favorites, respectively, with sportsbooks.
As of Friday, Michigan has now topped Georgia as the favorite at DraftKings with odds of +270 compared to +290 for Georgia to win the NCAA Championship.
Bettors of Michigan may be a bit more nervous after it was announced Thursday that the NCAA is investigating the school over allegations of stealing play-calling signals. The key to the investigation is whether Michigan sent people to games of other schools to learn play-calls, an action that is illegal.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said he had no knowledge of this activity and said the school will cooperate with the investigation.
It is unknown this early into the investigation as to whether Michigan would have to forfeit any games from the 2023 season if found guilty.
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