Top sports betting moments of 2022
There are many sports betting moments from 2022 that stood out. Sports betting is legal in the U.S. for over four years now and there are over 30 states with legalized sports gambling.
The last week of the NFL regular season nearly provided one of all-time historic sports betting moments. The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens. Bettors wagered a two-team parlay with the Jaguars and/or Steelers winning and many variations of Chargers-Raiders ending in a tie.
Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL on Jan. 29. On March 10, a bettor came into the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and wanted to place a wager on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl. The same better returned a few hours later to make another wagering on Tampa. Three days later, Brady said he was unretiring and the odds on winning the game dropped from 25-1 to +750 at DraftKings.
Paolo Banchero went from -115 to +200 to be selected first overall in the 2022 NBA draft. Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey, opened the No. 1 odds market on Monday morning and was immediately hit with Banchesro bets.
Banchero was the betting favorite at sportsbooks on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the order of the top 3 picks was “increasingly clear” with Jabari Smith to Orlando, Chet Holmgren to Oklahoma City and Paolo Bancher to Houston. Sportsbooks closed some markets and re-opened others. Banchesro's odds to go No. 1 overall kept shrinking.
Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale won $75 million on Houston Astros World Series title. It's the largest payout ever in legal U.S. sports betting history. He also won a $1 million bet on the Houston Cougars to win the NCAA men's college basketball title on Saturday. He made about $10 million in futures wagers on his hometown team Houston.
Saudi Arabia beat Argentina 2-1 in World Cup opening game on Tuesday, November 22. Sportsbooks cleaned up on the match. The odds were 25-10 at some sportsbooks before the game. UMBC upset a No. 1 seed in 2018 NCAA tournament.
