Patrick Everson

FOX Sports Betting Analyst

In the Week 7 NFL odds market, the mainstream betting crowd couldn’t keep up with the massive amount of bets they brought home in Week 6. But for the second week in a row, it was still generally better to be a bettor than a bookmaker.

That would have been much truer if the New York Jets had delivered on Sunday night.

“The day was essentially about the last game. We needed the Steelers badly,” said Scott Shelton of BetMGM Nevada.

And they got it.

Oddsmakers at sportsbooks across the country are helping reflect on the weekend with NFL and college football betting.

Public opinion

On Sunday morning, Tristan Davis – a lead trader for BetMGM nationally – set the table. His sportsbook and most other operators needed outsiders to stanch the bleeding of the last week.

“The book is definitely looking for more dogs to cover this weekend and hopefully win. Bills, Commanders, Bengals and Eagles are all heavily supported right now,” Davis said.

So what happened?

• Buffalo, a 9.5-point favorite, rolled over Tennessee 34-10.
• Washington, a 10-point favorite, outscored Carolina 40-7 even after losing rookie QB Jayden Daniels (ribs) early in the first quarter.
• Cincinnati defeated Cleveland 21-14 and was the favorite by 5.5 points.
• Philadelphia defeated the New York Giants 28-3 and finished as 3-point favorites.

These four games helped raise money for the public. Additionally, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves in the rare position of underdogs, which pleased the public.

Ahead of KC’s Super Bowl rematch against the San Francisco 49ers, Davis said:

“The Chiefs keep taking more money. We will support the Niners.”

Final score: Kansas City 28, San Fran 18.

Before Sunday night’s football, Davis summarized:

“Today is a public day. Bettors have put together a strong few weeks.”

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Kings for a day (again)

DraftKings Sportsbook customers definitely had a banner on Sunday. In point spread betting, the five teams with the highest ticket count – the total number of bets on those teams – all won and covered:

• Bengal
• eagle
• Bills
• Commanders
• Lions

We’ve already covered the first four teams on this list. Detroit is, of course, an extremely popular team with the betting public. The Lions were one-point underdogs at the undefeated Minnesota Vikings and won 31-29 with a late field goal.

For those keeping track – and this is where you should be – the Lions are 27-9 straight (SU) and 28-8 against the spread (ATS) in their last 36 games. That’s a red-hot spread covering percentage of 77.7.

Give and take

Nevertheless, the oddsmakers managed to get something back here and there. As mentioned above, Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh finished as 2.5-point home underdogs and defeated the New York Jets 37-15.

Several sportsbooks in Vegas and across the country indicated a need for the Steelers on Sunday night.

And interestingly, the SuperBook saw plenty of action from the Chiefs in Nevada, but needed Kansas City against San Francisco.

“We have some big bets on San Francisco,” said SuperBook CEO John Murray.

Even though BetMGM was more of a 49ers fan nationally, the BetMGM sportsbook in Las Vegas saw a lot of Niners activity.

“After losing some key decisions in the early games — Bills beat the Titans and the Eagles beat the Giants — the late games looked bleak,” BetMGM Nevada’s Shelton said. “But we actually needed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs for a change since we had multiple six-figure bets on the 49ers.”

“The Raiders’ coverage against the Rams also helped.”

Las Vegas lost to LA 20-15, but was considered a 7-point underdog.

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On campus

The slam dunk game of the week on Saturday was undoubtedly Georgia vs. Texas. And the result was quite surprising.

The Bulldogs were four-point underdogs on the road, but took a 23-0 halftime lead en route to a 30-15 win. On a national level, BetMGM found some great two-way action in this matchup. In fact, the total of 57 proved to be more important than the point spread or moneyline.

“Georgia-Texas coming in under the total was great,” said BetMGM trading manager Seamus Magee.

However, much like in the NFL on Sunday, regional biases crept in and did some damage. BetMGM’s Beau Rivage sportsbook in Biloxi, Mississippi – the heart of SEC country – took a dip against the Bulldogs.

“Georgia was a disaster for us,” said Carl Johnson, Beau Rivage sports betting manager. “We needed Texas here because we had a big player who had UCLA and Baylor as well as Georgia.”

In fact, the bettor had these three teams in every way: individual point spread bets on each team as well as two- and three-team bets. UCLA was a 4-point underdog and soundly defeated Rutgers 35-32, while Baylor was a 5-point underdog and defeated Texas Tech 59-35.

In total, the customer had seven bets involving Georgia and/or UCLA and Baylor and won all seven. That’s why the result in Georgia was difficult to digest.

“On a national level, I think BetMGM has done well for the game. We got a win for the team here,” Johnson said.

In another game with huge implications, Magee said Tennessee – a 3.5-point home underdog – saved BetMGM from a national losing day with a 24-17 win over Alabama.

“But there were certainly a number of games that made bettors happy, Auburn-Mizzou and Miami-Louisville to name a few,” Magee said.

Missouri rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Auburn 21-17, barely becoming a 3.5-point home favorite. Miami edged out Louisville, winning a high-octane affair 52-45 as 4-point away favorites.

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a respected journalist in the national sports betting space. He lives in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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