The NFL is gearing up for one of the most anticipated weeks of the season.
NFL on Thanksgiving Day — an annual tradition since 1934 — is poised to be one of the most exciting days in all of American sports with a three-game slate featuring some of the league’s best teams.
The slate begins with the Green Bay Packers taking on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. The Lions, who enter the matchup with an 8-2 record, host a Thanksgiving Day game annually. The 4-7 Washington Commanders travel to Dallas to face the 7-3 Cowboys. The NFL will conclude Thanksgiving Day with an NFC matchup that features two of the conference’s top teams: the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.
The highly anticipated slate not only presents an exciting opportunity for football fans but sports bettors who are looking to cash in.
The NFL’s first Thanksgiving Day contest features a Packers team, which has a 4-6 record, traveling to Detroit as a 7.5-point underdog. Green Bay will be looking to spoil the Lions’ strong first half of the season as they seek a playoff berth with the regular season winding down.
“The games are meaning more and more as the season progresses,” Caesars Entertainment assistant director or trading Adam Pullen told Covers. “That usually means more people are apt to get a bet down on the game. The handle should be as big as it is any other NFL week.”
Parlay action
Bettors will have ample opportunity on Thanksgiving Day to place wagers with the NFL’s three-game slate. However, casual bettors may lean towards parlays given the heavy favorites featured in the lineup. The Cowboys are a -625 favorite leading to a small profit on moneyline wagers, but a parlay including the Lions and 49ers (-305 favorite) can be favorable for bettors looking to take advantage of one of the most popular days in American professional sports.
“The public is definitely going to be on those three teams,” Pullen said. “But as we’ve seen in the NFL anything can happen week-to-week. We’ll need some of the underdogs to bark.”
Some sportsbooks are taking a different approach to Thanksgiving Day, as DraftKings is promoting a parlay that includes all three underdog teams covering their respective threads.
The Packers, Commanders (+11), and Seahawks (+7) parlay on DraftKings sits at +595 odds. Despite the promo, other operators will be yearning for an upset in order for the house to win.
