Leverage and Lady Luck. That summarized a dramatic and lucrative betting weekend encompassingNCAAB, NBA and NFL sports betting for Week 15, college basketball and the NBA.
Some big scores involved patrons gambling large amounts of money on prohibitive money-line favorites.
- FanDuel sportsbook reported a $195,000 hit born of a $100,000 wager
- PointsBet book produced a $28,000 parlay collection on a $70,000 bet
That was impressive because of the size of the wager and the well-founded trend of riding the NJ online sportsbook moneyline train with prohibitive favorites.
Yet the betting buzz of mid-December was the magic that made some people rich. Not just the money, but The Moment.
Parlays from Heaven
Are you serious?
Two unconventional, final-play touchdowns lit up the NFL sports betting and social media circuit after NFL Week 15.
Some bettors collected money pouring from the skies, while others suffered the unexpected Bad Beat.
WAGER WONDERLAND found two plays that defied belief last week in the NFL. And one paid HUGE.
This PointsBet player received Divine Intervention, a Salvation Scoop and a moment for the ages, turning $2,485 into $42,344 with a six-leg parlay.
Fittingly, the finale was in California, where only a Hollywood script could have predicted the finish.
The bettor already had five selections in hand before the chaotic end of the San Francisco 49ers-Atlanta Falcons game and then received an improbable gift.
NFL sports betting wins to set the stage:
- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had beaten the Detroit Lions straight up. Check.
- The New England Patriots had covered 9.5 points against the Cincinnati Bengals. Check.
- The Seattle Seahawks-Carolina Panthers game had gone over 47 and the New York Giants
- New York Giants & Miami Dolphins had surpassed 46.5 points in their game. Check, check.
- Showing versatility, the player unfurled soccer handicapping skills, taking Paris St. Germain and St. Etienne over 1.5 goals. They collected four. And check number five.
All Set-Up
Yet that potpourri of insight: moneylines, spreads, over-under, and varied sports appeared to be for naught.
The Niners and Atlanta Falcons had an over-under at 48.5 And it was a distant dream with five seconds left and San Francisco leading 22-17.
For the Over, it was, well, over.
For every 1,000 times we see this scenario, once, maybe, do we see the miracle that followed. It came with the usual series of palpitations.
- The first was an apparent Falcons touchdown called back because the receiver did not complete the possession cycle before the ball came loose.
- The second was a touchdown that counted, obtained via booth review after the officials originally ruled Atlanta receiver Julio Jones shy of the goal line on the next play. Replays confirmed he got in, maybe by an inch and the Falcons led 23-22. Still shy by 3.5 points with two seconds left.
- As if adding insult to injury, Atlanta decided not to kick the extra point, fearing a block and a runback by San Francisco would produce two points.
Salvation Scoop and Score
One play left. Atlanta kicks off. San Francisco tries the crazy lateraling teams do when needing a miracle on the final play.
Would the incredible happen? YES!
The ball bounded toward the San Francisco goal line and found its way to a Falcon, who took it in with no time left on the clock.
And so, it ended, 29-22, the over rescued by 12 points in two seconds.
There are less stressful ways to make $42,000, but none more exhilarating.
The good fortune was shared by over bettors around the country for this game. Most sportsbooks reported support for the over in the 70% range.
This capped one of the strangest final-play collections in NFL history.
Scoop and Score II
It took that play to upend this one.
Although no big parlays emerged from it, the Philadelphia Eagles closed the early games with a cover from the heavens. Same kind of play.
With Philadelphia leading the Washington Redskins 31-27, having scored the go-ahead touchdown in the final 30 seconds, Washington tried a Hail Mary.
But it was prayer of Philadelphia bettors that was answered on the game’s final play.
- Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins loaded up to throw the desperation heave. But he was about to be sacked, so he pitched the ball backwards to one in particular.
- Nigel Bradham picked up the ball for Philadelphia. Conventional wisdom dictates he just pounce on the ball, sealing the game.
- Yet, Bradham saw nothing but green grass in front of him and he romped 47 yards to a score, changing the distribution of financial green.
PlaySugarHouse reported that 68% of the bettors had backed Philadelphia, along with 84% on the moneyline.
Thus the Eagles, trailing outright with one-minute left, hit the win, the cover and one of the year’s biggest plays, most of it in one fell scoop!
Social media lit up with protests over Bradham not sitting on the ball and exclamations of others believing they’d finally caught a break.
It all depends on where your ticket was sitting.
The unlikely scenario provided Philadelphia’s first cover in five games and the first time Washington failed to cover in four games.
Almost A Third
- The Chicago Bears tried their version of the final-play laterals and nearly succeeded against the Green Bay Packers.
- The Bears completed several backward passes and got down to the Green Bay two-yard line before the play ended.
- The final was 21-13 Green Bay, safely ahead of the 4.5 spread at DraftKings. But this one nearly went the other way.
- There has been scant publicity for this play, but it was nearly pulled off.
Would have been the first time in NFL history, most likely, that three scores like this happened in one week.
ONE FOR THE ROAD
PointsBet also reported a bet placed for $70,000 with the Chiefs and Patriots winning on the moneyline.
- It created a profit of $28,000.
FanDuel: More Conventional Big-Money Slam
When does Even-Money become a spectacular payout?
When you are the Indiana online patron who placed:
$100,000 on three parlays at FanDuel and collected $195,797
- The first $60,000 turned into $85,090 when the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots won handily as moneyline favorites.
- The next $20,000 created $59,239 with the Chiefs, Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks prevailing in NFL Week 15.
- A final $15,000 netted $51,486 with a mix of NFL sports betting, college basketball and NBA selections.
That meant Buffalo covering against the Pittsburgh Steelers as a 1.5-point underdog, the Denver Nuggets edging the New York Knicks by six points and the University of Minnesota thumping fifth-seeded Ohio State by 13 points. Minnesota was unranked, that was a genius part of the call.
