Bookmaker's Corner: NFL Football Betting Lines: Are Wild Cards Indeed
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 1/13/2010
The NFL’s wild card weekend was a good one for Bodog Sportsbook’s NFL football betting lines. Unfortunately for most of our players it wasn’t very good at all.
Bodog Sportsbook had big wins on both the New York Jets’ victory over the Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens’ upset of the New England Patriots. And the players had a big win with the Cowboys as Dallas beat the Philadelphia Eagles quite handily.
And then there was Arizona.
Had the Arizona Cardinals not defeated the Green Bay Packers in overtime our season would have had a much different ending. But they did (despite a comeback by the Packers to send the game into OT.)
And we let out a huge sigh of relief.
See, we opened the Green Bay-Arizona game with the Cardinals favored by three points, but thanks to some heavy Packer action followed by the news that receiver Anquan Boldin would sit out with an injury, the line went all the way to Green Bay -3 by kickoff. That’s a move of six points and I have to say it left the book a bit more exposed than we were comfortable with. Even with our aggressive line moves, we had a very hard time attracting enough Arizona action to balance out the Packer money. Such is life in sportsbetting. It’s not for the faint of heart, which is also why it’s so much fun.
The Cardinals’ win also means the book now gets to keep the proceeds from the many futures bets that came in on Green Bay in the second half of the season. (Last week we were forced to move the Packers’ odds to win the Super Bowl all the way from 22/1 to 14/1.)
And speaking of futures bets, the Jets went from 50/1 to 30/1 and now sit at 14/1. New York remains a fairly big underdog, however. The Jets are tied with Arizona as the longest shots of the eight remaining teams, with Baltimore at 12/1 also providing a potentially great return.
As it stands now, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts are the favorites to win the Super Bowl at 3/1 odds, followed by the San Diego Chargers (10/3) and New Orleans Saints (4/1).
I can see Dallas and Minnesota, both at 6/1, getting some interest from bettors this week. They’ve been giving bettors and fans everywhere much to cheer about these days…
I will be posting weekly articles including betting previews, matchups and the inside scoop from a bookmakers point of view right here at Doc's Sports. Read my past articles - Click Here, and learn more about Bodog sportsbook - click here. If you're ready to set up an account and start playing I'd like to offer you a Sign up Bonus - Click Here. Enjoy the Bodog Experience.