Sportsbooks have ‘good’ Week 1; public wins on Eagles, Jaguars

In a wild Week 1 of the NFL season, several underdogs won outright and the public won big on the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Favorites were 6-9 against the spread, with the Cincinnati Bengals – Cleveland Browns game going off as a pick-em. Unders were 11-4. Road teams are 12-3 ATS entering Monday night’s game.

The Washington Commanders (-7) winning 20-16 over the Arizona Cardinals was a good result for sportsbooks. The Commanders were the most-picked team (38% of all entries) in Circa Sports’ Survivor Contest as well, so there were plenty of contestants holding their breath.

“A Cardinals win would’ve been a bonanza for us,” Adam Pullen, oddsmaker at Caesars Sportsbook said on Sunday night. “But we’ll take what we can get. A good first week for us, nothing great.”

Other oddsmakers echoed the sentiment.

“The Cardinals covering was big,” Zachary Lucas, retail sportsbook director at Twin Spires sportsbook texted. “Day otherwise was below-average. Small loser [overall].”

Eagles cost books, while Packers-Bears split

One of the worst results for sportsbooks was the Philadelphia Eagles beating the New England Patriots 25-20, and covering as 3.5-point road favorites.

“The Eagles winning and covering didn’t do us any favors, but the big loser for us was Green Bay-Chicago,” Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey texted. “We ended up doing well on Raiders-Broncos and Rams-Seahawks. The day will be decided by the late game … Giants backers are out in full force.”

The story was the same in Las Vegas.

“We had a few small-to-medium-sized losses — Browns, Falcons, Raiders — outside of the Eagles, which was biggest loser of the day,” Jay Kornegay, vice president of SuperBook Sports told me. “If Patriots could’ve pulled that out, it would’ve been a very good Sunday. Couple of outright dogs – Rams and Dolphins — treated us well today. Those were our two big winners.”

“Good result today for the NFL,” Chuck Esposito, sportsbook director at Station Casinos, texted. “Bucs, Cards, Browns, Packers and Dolphins all really good. No real liability heading into Sunday night, but could use Giants.”

In one of the marquee games on Sunday, sportsbooks were rooting against the Steelers, who were hosting the 49ers.

“Sharps were all over the Steelers, they kept betting them over and over again,” Kornegay said.

Caesars Sportsbook noted that they took a $400,000 bet on Steelers +3 earlier in the week, so they were pleased as well with the 49ers’ 30-7 win.

Two $1 million bets at FanDuel Sportsbook

It’s rare to see seven-figure wagers regular-season games, but FanDuel Sportsbook reported taking two on the early and afternoon slate on Sunday:

$1 million on Seahawks -4.5

$1 million on Dolphins +3

The Seahawks lost outright 30-1 to the Los Angeles Rams. The Miami Dolphins won outright 36-34 over the Los Angeles Chargers.

The four biggest notable bets shared by DraftKings Sportsbook all lost:

$182,500 on Houston Texans +10

$100,000 on Panthers-Falcons OVER 39.5

$90,000 on Packers-Bears UNDER 41.5

$86,250 on Jaguars-Colts U 46.5