Tiger Woods turned back time and earned his fifth green jacket with a final-round 70 to win the 2019 Masters. He wasn’t the only one celebrating a big win on Sunday.
Bettors across the nation cheered him down the back nine as he stalked the field and shot his way to his first major in over a decade. In New Jersey, the first bettable Masters’ meant millions paid out by the books.
FanDuel doused
Most books had Tiger in their top-five of favorites. The best price was at FanDuel, which had him listed at 18-1.
The book run out of The Meadowlands in North Jersey took a big L Sunday with Tiger’s win. Bettors won over a million dollars for Woods’ 15th major victory.
“The Tiger effect is real,” said Mike Raffesnperger, CMO for FanDuel Group. “Tiger’s historic win today has cemented him as one of the most iconic figures in sports and we congratulate him on his tremendous achievement. We’re even happier for our customers who today have over three million reasons to believe there are more ways to win on FanDuel!”
Entering the tournament, most books had significant bets on Woods. The 10 percent of bets at FanDuel rose to 21 percent by Sunday. Tiger also led in-game betting popularity.
The DFS side had a promotion for the Mega Eagle tournament where all fans would receive their entrance fees back if Woods won. The payouts and paybacks cost FD another over $2 million for the weekend.
BetStars promo payout
Matthew Primeaux from BetStars wasn’t a believer entering the Masters’.
“I believe my direct quote was, ‘Guys, there’s no way Tiger is winning this tournament,'” Primeaux told ESPN. “Whoops.”
The sportsbook offered players 100-1 odds on the active major wins leader for the first $10 bet and 20-1 for all other handle. Apparently, the plan was to offer the longer odds for the first $100 bet. Talk about a big save.
When the third round ended, Woods was second-choice at +333 at BetStars.
Rough day for DraftKings, William Hill
Another outlet that had significant action on Tiger Woods entering the Masters’ was DraftKings. Tiger earned 7 percent of tickets before the first tee shot was struck on Thursday.
As the action progressed, DraftKings took on more action and improved odds. At one point Sunday, Tiger was 15-1 to win, which prompted 60 percent of the following bets to go on him.
DK also finished with a seven-figure liability after the historic win. They’re trying to make it up with push notifications to players to try their digital casino games.
William Hill took a huge bet on Tiger earlier this week in Nevada. One player wagered $85,000 on the veteran, the first bet made at the book, and pocketed $1.19 million for the win.
What does it all mean?
We’ve seen a fairly balanced market in New Jersey since operations ramped up in September with the start of football. Some weeks the bettors won, other weeks the books scored some upsets.
This is the second big-event win that went the players’ way in 2019. Bettors cashed big on the Super Bowl, capitalizing on the books not moving the line further for the winning Patriots.
March was a strong month for the books, as they made record revenue on March Madness. They didn’t have a big run from a local team to drive action and favorites fell in the second weekend.
2019 has already seen strong handle and consistent months. Will the big event wins keep fans turning out for baseball once the NBA and NHL playoffs end?
Event-based betting is a good sign for the books, especially at the casinos. Summer months bring three more majors in golf and tennis (who had a really nice burst during the Australian Open) and lots of customers. Online will dominate but wins at the retail outlet hopefully mean return business.
