(this is a 2009 article written mid-day of “Black Sunday”-a day in which sportsbooks took heavy losses).

October 25, 2009

Sportsbooks Get Killed Early

Early NFL Sportsbook action report has the sportsbooks getting killed by the public early.  There were four heavy public favorites on the early games and all four of them covered. In fact most every game in the early round was a blowout and the NFL showed almost none of the parody that it craves. One blowout, New England vs. Tampa, was played in England and was supposed to showcase our national sport to the Europeans.  Instead, they were bored to death by lopsided scoring and absolutely no suspense.  That score was 35-7.

The sportsbooks took a pounding early and can only hope to try and break even with the late games. Here are the four games and the % of public wagers:

1. Colts -14 (90% bet on Colts)
2. Patriots -16 (84% bet on Patriots)
3. Green Bay -9 (80% bet on Green Bay)
4. San Diego -6 (73% bet on San Diego)

Sportsbooks will need two public favorites to not cover late just for a chance to cut losses by half realistically. They are:

1. Atlanta +5 (73% bet on Atlanta)
2. New Orleans -6 (72% bet on New Orleans)

Note: For full game match-ups and final scores see the NFL scores archive page here