NFL Week 10 Upsets Led by Patriots Stunner Put Sportsbooks Back Ahead of Public Bettors

Posted on: November 12, 2018, 02:30h. 

Last updated on: November 12, 2018, 02:23h.

Lucas Thomas Read More
Expertise: Sports Betting, Sports.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. The public cleaned out the books in Week 9 of the NFL season, but yesterday order was restored. Several Week 10 upsets in the NFL equaled a profitable day Sunday for Las Vegas and sportsbooks across the country.

The Tennessee Titans took down the New England Patriots on Sunday, and sportsbooks took down public bettors that heavily backed the Patriots. (Photo: Austin Anthony/Associated Press)

According to Jimmy Vaccaro of the South Point Casino sportsbook in Las Vegas, the Tennessee Titans win over the New England Patriots and the Cleveland Browns win over the Atlanta Falcons were the house’s biggest wins of the week. Both teams were home underdogs.

The Buffalo Bills beat the New York Jets and Washington Redskins also both won outright as underdogs, which more often than not is good for sportsbooks and bad for the public. Five underdogs won outright on Sunday, capped off by the Dallas Cowboys win in Philadelphia as 8-point underdogs.

South Point won big when the Patriots lost, according to Vaccaro. Before kickoff Sunday, Vaccaro tweeted from a packed South Point that one bettor placed a $10,000 money-line parlay on the Kansas City Chiefs (-2000), New Orleans Saints (-260), Green Bay Packers (-600), Los Angeles Rams (-450), Los Angeles Chargers (-525), and the Patriots (-300) to win $33,000. While the other five teams won, the Patriots lost 34-10 to the Titans.

Tim Fitzgerald, supervisor at South Point, told ESPN that Tennessee “was probably the biggest decision on an early game we have had all year.”

South Point wasn’t the only Las Vegas sportsbook to cash in on the Titans. Jason McCormick of Station Casinos in Las Vegas said with the Patriots did away with “lots of money-line parlays and teasers” from public bettors. Of the money bet on the game at William Hill sportsbooks in Nevada and New Jersey, 90 percent was bet on the Patriots, according to ESPN.

Before the Cowboys-Eagles ended Week 10 on Sunday Night Football, Vaccaro tweeted that South Point needed the Cowboys to beat the Eagles for the house to book a win in Sunday’s final game. The Cowboys won 27-20.

Jeff Stoneback, sportsbooks director at MGM, told ESPN that Week 10 was the book’s best of the season so far. He said that MGM also won big on Sunday Night Football when bettors wagered six and a half times more on the Eagles than Cowboys. MGM, Stoneback said, was also the beneficiary of one better “who was firing away, $25,000 and $50,000 parlays.”

“I don’t think he hit one,” he told ESPN.

Oddsmakers Are Still Licking Their Week 9 Wounds

Still, despite the big day, Stoneback admitted it wasn’t enough to offset last week’s onslaught from the public.

Several sportsbooks in Las Vegas took a bath in Week 9 when several favorites covered. Those outcomes cost sportsbooks an estimated $10 million. Stoneback said it was MGM’s worst Sunday in 32 years.

Tonight, bettors have the chance to regain some of that Week 9 magic with one last Week 10 game on Monday Night Football in what looks like the type of game you have to bet on to make it interesting.

The flailing New York Giants (1-7) travel across the country to take on the injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers (2-7). The three combined wins between the teams are by far the fewest in an NFL game this week.

The 49ers are 3.5-point favorites at home, and can be had on the money-line for -170, while the point total is at 45.5 at South Point. Vaccaro tweeted that most of the money is coming in on San Francisco.