After another weekend packed full of sporting action, the sportsbooks took more money on Baseball bets than any other sport.
After another weekend packed full of sporting action, the sportsbooks took more money on Baseball bets than any other sport.
MLB: Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon and San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. continue to light up MLB ballparks and are gaining traction in MVP voting. Blackmon (+650 NL MVP) has a batting average of over .450 and trails just Mookie Betts in MVP bets. Tatis Jr. (+700 NL MVP) belted his ninth HR of the season over the weekend and sits just two HRs back of league-leader Mike Trout. Tatis Jr. is a big reason why the Padres were one of the five most-bet on teams last week and why he now has the third most N.L. MVP bets, behind Betts and Blackmon.
NBA: The Trail Blazers defeated the Grizzlies on Saturday afternoon to earn the final playoff spot and lock in the finalized NBA playoff bracket. The 126-122 win was the most bet-on NBA game of Friday and Saturday and with the 248 total points scored, the Trail Blazers secured the NBA’s best record against the spread (7-1) inside the bubble. They face the No. 1 seed Lakers in the first round, the team with the worst record against the spread (1-7) inside the bubble. The Lakers begin the playoffs as the most popular bet to win the NBA Championship (+250) and are -500 to win their series against Portland, which is +365 to pull off the first-round series upset.
NHL: With the playoff bracket set and first round series underway, the NHL was the second most popular sport to bet on this weekend, responsible for 22 percent of all weekend bets. The Blackhawks vs. Golden Knights series had the most weekend bets of any series and has more series-long bets than any other first-round matchup. Chicago avoided elimination on Sunday with a 3-1 win in which over 88 percent of all bets were on the Blackhawks +150 ML.
PGA: Jim Herman entered the Wyndham Championship +50000 ML to win the event, and sat at No. 192 on the FedExCup standings. But after shooting a 61 on Saturday and a 63 on Sunday, the unheralded longshot captured his third career PGA Tour victory and first Top 25 finish in over a year. While no pre-tournament bets were placed on Herman +50000 ML, several weekend bets on Herman at +6000 ML were placed.
UFC: The main event of UFC 252 saw Stipe Miocic retain his UFC heavyweight championship against Daniel Cormier via unanimous decision in the most bet-on fight of the weekend thanks to nearly 15 percent of all UFC bets. The most popular bet was the main event going over 2.5 rounds (-155), with 88 percent of all main event bets winning thanks to the decision result. In fact, the top four most popular bets of the event were all winners.
88%: Miocic vs. Cormier O2.5 rounds (-155)
77%: O’Malley vs. Vera U2.5 rounds (+105)
75%: Herrig vs. Jandiroba U2.5 rounds (+175)
71%: Dos Santos vs. Rozenstruik O1.5 rounds (-115)
Champions League: For the first time since 1991 the Champions League Semifinals do not include a side from Spain or Italy. Bayern Munich eliminated FC Barcelona on Saturday, 8-2 in a game in which over 2.5 Goals (-112) hit in under 25 minutes. Joining Bayern Munich in the semifinals are fellow German side RB Leipzig and French sides Paris St. Germain and Lyon, the latter of which pulled off a stunning +1200 ML upset of Manchester City on Sunday.