Sportsbooks Suffer Bloodbath And Worst Result In NFL Week 6 Since 2018
Week 6 of the 2024 NFL season was a bloodbath for the leading online sportsbooks . Since sports betting was legalized in the U.S. in 2018, no week of NFL betting has gone worse for the sportsbook operators than Week 6. It started Thurday with an NFC West showcase and the San Francisco 49ers 36-24 road win over the Seattle Seahawks. It ended with a penalty-filled AFC East prime time Monday Night Football slugfest and the Buffalo Bills 23-20 road win over the New York Jets .
"It was the worst NFL Sunday for the sportsbook," MGM media and PR said in an email. "It was our first losing week this season."
That's because NFL favorites dominated Week 6 going 13-1 straight up (SU) and 11-2-1 against the spread (ATS). That's grading the Chicago Bears as a favorite in their 35-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. The Bears were favored all week, and then money poured in on the Jaguars in the hours leading up to kickoff early Sunday to make the Jags a slight favorite. That was the only win of the day for most sportsbooks, as Circa Sports director Jeff Benson noted.
Each week during football season, public bettors support more NFL teams as betting favorites than underdogs. That's especially true on the prime time night games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday. Parlays on the favorites and over the total (points) went 4-0 in the late afternoon window on Sunday, Oct. 13 delivering another big blow to the sportsbooks with none of the games really in doubt for the favorites.
Then on Sunday Night Football, the Cincinnati Bengals running back broke a 30-yard touchdown run in the final 2 minutes of the game to give Bengals betting backers (-4) the after dinner dessert and tasty treat to win 17-7 over the New York Giants.
Sportsbooks took a big hit on two of the most bet teams as favorites when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Detroit Lions won as road favorites. The Bucs smashed the New Orleans Saints 51-27 and the Lions destroyed the Dallas Cowboys 47-9.
Fanatics Sportsbook reported that Tampa Bay racked up more than 90% of the tickets and 95% of the handle (money) among all spread bets for Buccaneers-Saints. The Buccaneers accounted for the second-most spread tickets and handle for any team in Week 6, only trailing the Lions in both categories. Bettors also piled on the Houston Texans and Atlanta Falcons as road favorites delivering two more decisive double-digit wins over two of the worst teams in the league in the New England Patriots (1-5) and Carolina Panthers (1-5).
Bettors Cashes-in Six Figure Score On $10 Parlay BetHitting another historic milestone was the failures of home underdogs in Week 6. Road favorites went 9-0 SU and ATS. So favorites covering the spread also meant moneyline bets and parlays paid off for more bettors.
A Pennsylvania bettor at Fanatics Sportsbook had six of those road favorites on the spread along with the Bears and Eagles (moneyline) plus 8 games Over the total. All 16 legs of his parlay hit to turn a $10 parlay bet into a massive $131,390 score.
"Week 12 of the 2023 season was previously the greatest day for customers when closing line favorites went 12-4 SU and ATS. This easily eclipsed that," Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading Craig Mucklow told Only Players .
The sportsbooks and online operators are still open for business despite their worst week of NFL betting results since sports betting was legalized in the U.S. in 2018. They are already taking more one-sided betting action on Week 7 favorites Chargers (-2.5) over Cardinals, Eagles (-3) over Giants, Rams (-6.5) over Raiders, Bengals (-6.5) over Browns, Falcons (-3) over the Seahawks, and the Thursday night kickoff Broncos (-2.5) over the Saints in New Orleans as bettors are banking on another Big Easy.
You can bet on it.
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