With two Monday night games behind us, NFL Week 15 odds are in the rearview mirror. But that doesn’t stop the Monday morning quarterbacking. Or in this case, Tuesday morning quarterbacking for the sports betting crowd.
Week after week, the public betting masses enjoy wagering on parlays. And we get it. Betting a little to win a lot is appealing, like the lottery, or in this instance, perhaps a mini-lottery.
However, in risk rooms across this great nation, the following mantra is a constant: Parlays are a bookmaker’s best friend. That’s how sportsbooks really make their money.
With that in mind, here’s this week’s edition of …
Woulda Coulda Shoulda
How awesome would it be to turn ten bucks into more than $5,600? If you leaned into a couple of first touchdown scorer props, and added in a trio of popular teams/popular games in Week 15 NFL odds, you could’ve done just that.
The following is a hypothetical five-leg parlay compiled at DraftKings Sportsbook:
- CeeDee Lamb +1000 to score the first touchdown in the Cowboys–Panthers game
- Mark Andrews to score the first touchdown in the Ravens–Giants game
- Eagles -5.5 vs. Steelers
- Packers moneyline -161 vs. Seahawks
- Bills–Lions Over 55.5 points (-120)
Six minutes into the Cowboys-Panthers tilt, Lamb caught a 14-yard TD pass for the game’s first score, putting Dallas up 7-0. Andrews did likewise for the Ravens, though it took until late in the first quarter to do so.
Laying 5.5 points at home with Philadelphia – which some sportsbooks now have at No. 2 in odds to win the Super Bowl – worked out well in Week 15. The Eagles topped Pittsburgh 27-13.
Green Bay was a popular public play in the Sunday night game. The Packers were never threatened in a 30-13 road win over Seattle.
And you couldn’t get much more no-sweat than the Bills-Lions Over, as two high-octane offenses slugged it out indoors at Ford Field. Late in the third quarter, Detroit quarterback Jared Goff and wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown connected on a 66-yard touchdown pass to pull the Lions within 14, at 35-21.
That score made the Over a winner. The two teams then piled up another 34 points in the fourth quarter, with Buffalo hanging on for a 48-42 victory. Ninety total points. Crazy.
Add it all up, and you’ve got hefty odds of +56072, or almost 561/1. So that 10-dollar bill turns into a healthy profit of $5,607.20
It can’t be overstated that there’s a reason odds are so long on these types of bets. And bookmakers want nothing more than for you to add more and more legs to your parlay tickets.
So wager accordingly. If you’re just taking a weekly flier with 10 or 20 bucks, to get a little more entertainment value by having some skin in the game, then that’s all well and good. If you’re hoping to make the car payment with your long-shot parlays, well, that’s not good. Keep it reasonable!
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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