Only in the NFL can a team post 70 points on the scoreboard, and yet all anyone wants to talk about is a single fan at a Chiefs game. Look what you made me do, Taylor Swift!
While Travis Kelce might have snagged the biggest catch of his career on Sunday, the STN Sports Book won’t complain about its weekend either, particularly after three large favorites lost outright. “Sunday worked out really well for us. We had probably our best Sunday so far of the year, which is hard to believe considering we lost maybe the biggest decision so far of the year,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos’ Race and Sports Book Director.
Oh Chuck, it must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero. With all that in mind, let’s quickly look back at the past week in sports and peek at what’s ahead on the STN Sports App and at the Station Casinos Race and Sports Books…
Fins Up
The STN Sports Book is licking its wounds after that Miami Dolphins/Denver Broncos game. That was the largest decision of the season so far, and the Book got blanked. “We lost straight parlays, moneyline bets, teasers, anything tied to the Dolphins,” Esposito said. “We lost the first half, we lost the second half, we lost the over.” A few $40,000 bets even came in on Miami for the game and in the first half. When the game finally ended with a score of 70-20, the Book had been trampled on more than a Life Is Beautiful Festival footprint.
Still, despite nearly breaking the NFL record for most points scored in a game, the Dolphins go into next week’s contest at Buffalo as a field goal underdog. Considering the Fins are playing at Buffalo in October, there might be value on Miami. “I think they catch a break,” Esposito said. “If you’re the Bills, you want to play Miami when it’s super cold in Buffalo. That clearly isn’t the case this week in Buffalo, so it’s kind of a good thing for Miami to catch them before the weather changes.”
The game has the highest listed total on the board by nearly a touchdown, and it’s all but certain that guests will hammer the over. “The over is a constant play with Miami games,” Esposito said.
Dog Days
While the Dolphins had the STN Books drowning, they were thrown a lifesaver with a few massive upsets. The Texans and Colts both entered their games as 9.5-point underdogs and won outright. The Cardinals were an even larger ‘dog and beat the heavily favored Cowboys. Needless to say, the Texans, Colts, and Cardinals helped Station overcome the Miami shellacking. Those squads gave the Book so much love that they didn’t even need iHeart.
“Just having three huge underdogs win outright pretty much took all straight parlay moneyline stuff away and it turned out to be a very good outcome for us,” Esposito said. One guest had a 10-team NFL parlay that would have paid out six figures, but because of those outright upsets that ticket was crushed like an orange at Red Rock’s JuiceFarm.
Line Movement
With the status of Jimmy Garoppolo up in the air, the spread in this week’s Raiders/Chargers game has shot up like a COVID booster. The Bengals line has also already crept up as bettors seem to think Joe Burrow is healthy again. To little surprise, the Eagles are already getting a lot of love, too. “This Eagles team hasn’t even started clicking yet and they just look so good,” Esposito opined.
And, in one of the biggest WTF lines of the week, the Broncos are favored by a field goal. Yes, the team that just got lit up for 70 points is favored. Then again, they play a Bears team that seems to have less bite than a White House dog.
Duck!
One month into the college football season and the Colorado Buffaloes have attracted more attention than the Sphere opening. Although professional bettors were more than happy to lay the three touchdowns with favorite Oregon, the public was all over the Buffs… again. As was been the case through four weeks, the Colorado game drew the highest Saturday handle and Ducks backers were rewarded with a 42-6 whooping. “We really needed Oregon to win and to kind of blow them out. There was still a substantial amount of Buffaloes moneyline play,” Esposito said. This week, Coach Prime’s squad is again faced with a tall task, as they host USC, a team that’s 4-0 and averaging 35-point wins (albeit against lackluster competition.) “I’m going to be curious to see how it’s bet. I mean, if you are Colorado, this has to be the game that you come out and really play,” Esposito said. “It’s a 9 a.m. game, and I really think that benefits USC. You fly in, you wake up the next morning and you play. You’re not sitting around waiting all day for a 7 p.m. start. So I think that favors USC a little bit. To me, that’s still the game I really want to watch this weekend more than anything else.”
No Irish Luck
Like Salt-N-Pepa once said, “push it good.” That was the case in the Ohio State/Notre Dame game. The Buckeyes entered the game as three point favorites, and they won by exactly that margin when they punched in a winning touchdown with one second remaining. The push was good for the oddsmakers. Since the spread was so small going into the game, Notre Dame backers were taking the Irish on the moneyline and the three points were getting dismissed like a Piff the Magic Dragon show.
“The Notre Dame game was huge. The bettors really played Ohio State to a degree, but if you liked Notre Dame you played ’em on the money line,” Esposito said. “Although it wasn’t a huge win for us, having Ohio State win averted a potential disaster because of the overwhelming moneyline play on the Irish.”
Bets To Know
Every week the STN Sports team is hard at work cranking out props for every single Pro Football game. Be sure to check the app often, as new props get added by the hour as each game approaches kickoff!
Weekly Winners
Check out this impressive 7-team parlay across Pro Football that hit over the weekend. $600 bet to collect $46,816!
-PACKERS +1
-PATRIOTS -2.5
-SEAHAWKS -5
-BROWNS -3.5
-CHARGERS PK
-BILLS -5.5
-DOLPHINS -6