Big bets show up on the Falcons in Vegas
MGM’s sportsbook reported taking two limit bets on the Falcons from respected players Saturday morning. The bets moved the line from Atlanta -5 to -6.
A $115,000 money-line bet on the Falcons was placed Wednesday at the William Hill sportsbook at Casino Royale. At -230 odds, the bet would net $50,000.
Late Friday afternoon, the Falcons also were the biggest liability for the sportsbook at the South Point casino, which took a big bet on Atlanta -4.5 earlier in the week.
“We’re pretty out-of-whack on this one,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrew said Friday afternoon.
The New England Patriots were 16-point favorites over the visiting Houston Texans in the second of Saturday’s divisional round games. The line was as high as Patriots -17 at MGM, before respected players took the Texans plus the points and caused the sportsbook to trim the number. It’s still the largest playoff point spread since 1998, but it hasn’t scared off bettors from backing the Patriots.
When the line opened last week, sportsbook operator CG Technology took $19,000 in bets on New England before it took any money on the Texans, according to vice president of risk Jason Simbal.
As of Friday night, 95 percent of the money wagered on Texans-Patriots at William Hill’s book was on New England. A $77,000 bet on the Patriots -15.5 contributed to that lopsided action.
In Sunday’s AFC game, the Kansas City Chiefs were small favorites over the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers at most books Saturday afternoon. The Steelers opened as much as 2.5-point favorites over the Chiefs, but after Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was seen wearing a protective boot, the market settled with the Chiefs as the favorites.
The NFL moved the kickoff of Steelers-Chiefs to 8:20 p.m. Sunday night in an attempt to avoid the worst of winter weather at Arrowhead Stadium. Forecasts are calling for a mix of snow and rain throughout the game. After the shift of kickoff time, the over/under total ticked up from 43.5 to as high as 45 Saturday.
In the NFC game Sunday afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys are 5-point favorites over the visiting Green Bay Packers. The action was evenly divided on the game at MGM, where less than $6,000 in bets separated the two teams.