On the first big football weekend of the season, with 45 games on the betting boards stretching from last Thursday through Monday, favorites went 28-15-1 against the spread (heading into Monday night's TCU-Tulane game).
That would usually indicate a disastrous weekend for bookmakers (as the betting public tends to back favorites), but most of the big-money moves were losers. Duke was a popular play, being bet down from +17 to +13 1/2 vs. Virginia before losing 27-0. Other teams that failed bettors included Miami-Ohio (bet from +11 to +9 vs. Iowa and lost 21-3), South Florida (bet from +17 to +14 1/2 vs. Alabama and lost 40-17), Oklahoma St. (bet from +8 1/2 to +7 1/2 vs. Nebraska and lost 17-7; not a big move, but it was a marquee TV game), and Mississippi St. (bet from +4 1/2 to +3 vs. Oregon and lost 42-34).
It wasn't all bad news for bettors with big wins on Wisconsin (bet from -1 1/2 all the way up to -5 1/2 vs. West Virginia before pulling out a 24-17 victory) and Florida St. (bet from -15 1/2 to -17 1/2 vs. North Carolina and winning 37-0). That late game was cited by more than one bookmaker as capping off a number of live parlays that significantly cut into books' profits on the day.
That just goes to show that the time of day a game is played can have a huge impact on the bottom line. While bookmakers were not happy with the way the day ended, it could have been worse. The Wisconsin game kicked off at 9 a.m. locally and didn't handle as much volume as the later marquee games, but it still was steamed all the way to -5 1/2.
As one bookmaker said, "If that Wisconsin game had been in prime time, we would all be looking for another line of work."
http://www.drf.com/news/article/49427.html
That would usually indicate a disastrous weekend for bookmakers (as the betting public tends to back favorites), but most of the big-money moves were losers. Duke was a popular play, being bet down from +17 to +13 1/2 vs. Virginia before losing 27-0. Other teams that failed bettors included Miami-Ohio (bet from +11 to +9 vs. Iowa and lost 21-3), South Florida (bet from +17 to +14 1/2 vs. Alabama and lost 40-17), Oklahoma St. (bet from +8 1/2 to +7 1/2 vs. Nebraska and lost 17-7; not a big move, but it was a marquee TV game), and Mississippi St. (bet from +4 1/2 to +3 vs. Oregon and lost 42-34).
It wasn't all bad news for bettors with big wins on Wisconsin (bet from -1 1/2 all the way up to -5 1/2 vs. West Virginia before pulling out a 24-17 victory) and Florida St. (bet from -15 1/2 to -17 1/2 vs. North Carolina and winning 37-0). That late game was cited by more than one bookmaker as capping off a number of live parlays that significantly cut into books' profits on the day.
That just goes to show that the time of day a game is played can have a huge impact on the bottom line. While bookmakers were not happy with the way the day ended, it could have been worse. The Wisconsin game kicked off at 9 a.m. locally and didn't handle as much volume as the later marquee games, but it still was steamed all the way to -5 1/2.
As one bookmaker said, "If that Wisconsin game had been in prime time, we would all be looking for another line of work."
http://www.drf.com/news/article/49427.html
