Sportsbooks see surge of huge bets on Georgia
A surge of big bets on greatly favored Georgia started showing up at sportsbooks Monday in the hours leading up to the College Football Playoff Championship game against underdog TCU.Georgia was a 13-point favorite over TCU on Monday afternoon at Caesars Sportsbook. The line had grown to Georgia -13.5 at some sportsbooks, however bettors were undeterred by one of the biggest point spreads ever in a college football champion game.BetMGM and DraftKings each reported taking a$550,000 bet on Georgia when the line was at -12.5. Caesars Sportsbook received 26 bets of
$10,000 or more on the game because Sunday, with 23 of those on the Bulldogs, including$ 220,000 on Georgia -13 and a $184,000 money-line wager on UGA at -450.”We began seeing a great deal of sharp action on Georgia come [Sunday],” Joey Feazel, lead college football trader for Caesars Sportsbook, stated in a company news release.2 Related
Before the uptick of interest on the Bulldogs, the bulk of the early action had been on TCU, consisting of from a minimum of one professional bettor.
“We took a bet on TCU +13 from a really highly regarded player in Nevada,” John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook, told ESPN on Sunday. “The general public is on that side, too.”
Therefore is Jim “Bed Mattress Mack” McIngvale, the Houston furnishings shopkeeper known to make big bets on games to reduce liability from marketing giveaways. McIngvale placed $3 million in bets on TCU to cover the spread and win the game outright at numerous sportsbooks. McIngvale is providing anyone who invests $3,000 or more at his store double their cash back if the Horned Frogs pull the upset.As of Monday, TCU had attracted 63.8% of point-spread bets and 51.9%of the money, which includes a$ 1 million bet from McIngvale. According to Caesars, without the McIngvale bet on TCU, almost two times as much cash has actually been bet on the Bulldogs as the Horned Frogs.TCU kicked off the season at 200-1 to win the national championship at Caesars Sportsbook and might be discovered as long as 500-1 at some sportsbooks, making the Horned Frogs among the most significant long shots ever to reach a champion game.Murray of the SuperBook stated it took only one $5 bet on TCU at 500-1
before the season.