The Book Report: Volume 6

It’s been a week unlike any we have ever seen in the history of sports in this country, and it’s not over the top to say that we will never see another one like it again.

This week, we will have the NBA and WNBA Finals begin. Major League Baseball began its playoffs, and the NFL played a monster game on Monday night. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup, and college football will have several big games this weekend. I mean, 2020 stinks, but this week is really incredible from a sports perspective.

To celebrate, I’ll do something I don’t normally do and begin the Book Report with a bet I made that failed to cash. I didn’t bet it to win, although it would have been fun to cash it. I bet it for history, and for something to remember just how nuts 2020 has been.

View the top deposit bonuses and promo codes for each sportsbook >>

DraftKings Sportsbook

Is this the future? Will we all be gambling on the Presidential Election one day? Well, it seems like people would be very interested in doing so if it were legal in America.

Draftkings was heavily involved with Tuesday’s night debate with a Free-To-Play contest that had thousands of entries. Only their NFL Survivor Contest had more interest from Draftkings customers. By the looks of things, the public did well with their predictions.

Onto Week 3 of the NFL, where DK customers — like most in this country — love to bet overs. Sunday’s early games were very good to the gambling public, as lots of points were scored in seven of eight contests. You have to think at some point the books will rethink the numbers they are hanging, but for now, it’s quite the streak for the public to cash in on.

FanDuel Sportsbook

Monday Night Football matched the Ravens and the Chiefs, and it was Pros vs. Joes at FanDuel. The public was all over the defending champs while the professionals largely sided with Baltimore.

• 71% of bets and 68% of money for Chiefs on the Spread
• 79% of bets and 56% of money for Chiefs on the Moneyline
• 90% of bets and 89% of money on the Over (54.5)

The Chiefs won the game 34-20.

To basketball, where it was no surprise that the L.A. Lakers are heavy favorites at -370 to win the NBA title at FanDuel. So far, the money for Game 1 on Wednesday has been mostly on the Lakers, with 69% on the Lakers -5 and 93% of the money on the over 217.5. However, 53% of the money has come in for the Heat to upset L.A. in the first game of the best-of-seven series.

BetMGM

More big deals for BetMGM. On Tuesday, the Tennessee Titans announced BetMGM as their first Official Sports Betting Partner.

“We are thrilled to bring BetMGM to the state of Tennessee,” Gil Beverly, Titans Sr. Vice President, Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer said in a release. “BetMGM will deliver new experiences and levels of engagement to our fans and we’re excited to welcome them in as an official partner.”

The BetMGM mobile app is scheduled to go live in the state November 1, when online sports betting is scheduled to launch pending regulatory approval. When it is available, users will see the brand throughout the Titans’ digital assets.

In Mississippi, Mattress Mack came back to the window in a big way.

James McIngvale, also known as Mattress Mack, is the owner of the Gallery Furniture chain in Houston, and the biggest Astros fan on the planet. He has been known to bet millions on his team, and he didn’t disappoint on Tuesday. The Astros won Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, 4-1, over the Twins to cash a monster ticket.

Other Sportsbooks

BetRivers and Sugarhouse in Pennsylvania reported the Eagles fans are losing confidence in their team. For the first time since the start of the NFL season, the Eagles didn’t end the weekend in the top spot for the largest percentage of total weekend handle. In fact, it was just Sunday’s fifth-most bet game. The Eagles tied the Bengals 23-23.

In Indiana, players at BetRivers went hard on the Colts, and their 29-point victory over the Jets paid off big. Sixteen percent of the total handle for the weekend was on Indy -11.5 and on the moneyline.

And finally in Illinois, BetRivers reported that “the Lakers’ series-clinching victory over the Nuggets, a winning play for 81% of game bettors, was the fourth most bet-on game of the weekend, and the single-most popular non-NFL game to bet, followed closely behind by Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa at UFC 253, and LSU vs. Mississippi State.”

Finally, this tweet should help you prep for Week 4 in the NFL. Some real bad teams ATS are playing this week

Find consensus odds from all major sportsbooks for Week 4 of the NFL >>

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Matt Perrault is a featured writer at BettingPros and the host of the Daily Juice podcast. For more from Matt, check out his archive and follow him @sportstalkmatt.