The Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen left a good impression on bettors after they went on the road and beat the Houston Texans 36-31 in the NFL on Sunday.
Key Takeaways
- The Bills have gone from +1,000 to +900 and are the most-bet team since Sunday’s win.
- The Bears, 49ers, and Giants have also seen odds shortened after big Week 1 victories.
- The 1-0 Raiders are BetMGM’s biggest liability due to long odds.
Getting by another AFC title contender helped make the Bills, as well as another trio of Week 1 winners, a popular wager in BetMGM’s Super Bowl futures market.
“The Bills, 49ers, Bears and Giants all had impressive wins in Week 1 that led to the trading team shortening their respective future odds,” BetMGM senior trading manager Christian Cipollini said. "Buffalo had the best win, beating Houston on the road. The Bills are the most-bet team to win the Super Bowl since the start of Week 1.”
Buffalo’s odds shortened from +1,000 during the preseason to +900 by Tuesday morning, putting the team behind only the favorite, the Los Angeles Rams (+650), in the online operator’s futures market.
The Bills opened at +1,200 earlier this year, which was tied with the Ravens, but the AFC East power has since moved past the reigning champion Seahawks in Super Bowl winner odds.
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Closing in on the Rams
The Bills are second in the market with 8.3% of the tickets and 9.9% of the handle. The Rams were an incredibly popular pick to win the Super Bowl after adding star pass-rusher Myles Garrett in the offseason to an already talented team that made it to the NFC title game last year.
Then, legendary defensive tackle Aaron Donald returned, and futures bettors continued to flock to the favorite. However, the Rams lost to the 49ers in Australia last Thursday. Their odds to win the Super Bowl shortened a tad, from +600 to +650, and the Rams are still getting 9.1% of the tickets and 12.6% of the handle, both market highs.
Seattle is +1,100 to win it all, but the Seahawks have taken just 4% of both the bets and money to repeat.
Big movers
The other three teams with standout wins that Cipollini mentioned have seen their odds swing shorter. The 49ers have gone from +1,700 to +1,400 since last week after looking like a contender in a division with the Rams and Seahawks.
The Bears put up 59 points on the Panthers in Week 1, leading even more bettors to jump on an already popular team, sending their odds from +2,500 to +2,000 over the course of a few days. Chicago is getting 4.9% of the bets and 5% of the money in the futures market.
The Giants knocked off the Cowboys 28-20 in primetime on Sunday, and bettors took notice, shortening New York’s Super Bowl odds from +6,600 to +5,000. The Giants reached +8,000 at one point this past offseason at BetMGM.
Liability outlook
The Giants are getting 2.7% of the wagers and 2.1% of the money, making them enough of a liability with those huge odds to make the sportsbook keep an eye on them.
However, BetMGM’s biggest liability in the Super Bowl market is the Raiders, who are getting less than 2% of the tickets and handle but have odds of +15,000.
The Steelers are coming off a 20-17 victory over the Falcons that shortened their odds from +8,000 to +5,000, and they are the second-biggest liability, ahead of the Cowboys (+2,800).
