When the Patriots shot out to a 21-0 lead over the Bills, Boston tech entrepreneur Evan Loring had to be feeling pretty good.
When the Pats still led 24-7 at halftime, he probably felt even better.
And thanks to a promise Loring made that was tied to his seven-figure Patriots moneyline bet, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals probably felt awesome.
But when Josh Allen is involved, it’s always too early to start counting your money.Â
Loring and the MSPCA — and a boatload of New England bettors/fans — learned that the hard way in NFL Week 15 odds.
More on that major wager gone awry, a speedy player prop payout, along with fun parlays and big bets, as we recap NFL and college football betting this past weekend.
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$1,000,000 Donation
On Thursday, Fanatics Sportsbook sent out a news release on Loring’s bet: $1.05 million on Patriots moneyline -105, for a potential profit of $1 million.
The release noted that if Loring won his bet, then he’d donate half the winnings — $500,000 — to the MSPCA.Â
By the end of the first quarter, New England was up 14-0 on a pair of Drake Maye touchdown runs. With 5:53 left in the second quarter, TreVeyon Henderson bolted 52 yards for another touchdown to make it 21-0, and it appeared the rout was on.
The Bills got a James Cook TD catch to make it 21-7, but the Patriots responded with a field goal as the first half ended to take a 24-7 lead.
New England was in complete control … until it wasn’t.
Buffalo scored the next 21 points to take a 28-24 lead, turning a blowout into a shootout. Henderson then helped the Pats get off the mat with a 65-yard touchdown jaunt, as New England regained the lead at 31-28.
But Allen followed by leading a 65-yard scoring drive, capped by a Cook 11-yard run, his third touchdown of the day. And in a game full of scoring, somehow there were no points in the final 6:48.
So the Bills won 35-31. Oh, and covered the spread as 2.5-point road favorites.
Fanatics indicated that, win or lose, Loring would still make a personal donation to the MSPCA, at a to-be-determined amount.Â
Sounds like it won’t be half-a-mill though.
Maye Day
Speaking of the Bills vs. Patriots showdown: A FanDuel Sportsbook customer foresaw a big day from Drake Maye — though maybe not quite so quickly.
The bettor put $100 on Maye to score two or more touchdowns, at odds of +5000.Â
Less than five minutes into the game, Maye ran it in from eight yards out to put the Patriots up 7-0. Then, in the waning seconds of the first quarter, Maye had a 7-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.
Bang. That was it. A hundred-dollar bet becomes $5,000 profit in less than 15 minutes of game time. If only it were always that easy.
Ham It Up
With plenty of name-brand players in Sunday night’s Vikings-Cowboys tilt — CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens, Dak Prescott, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison et al — you could forgive bettors who didn’t give a second thought to Minnesota fullback C.J. Ham.
They probably wish they had now.
Ham has played in eight games this season. In the previous seven, he didn’t have a single carry. So FanDuel Sportsbook had the ninth-year player as a +10000 long shot (100/1) to score a touchdown vs. Dallas.
Late in the third quarter, on his first carry of the year, Ham plowed in from a yard out to give the Vikes a 24-23 lead. Minnesota went on to post a 34-26 upset as 5-point road underdogs.
Any bettor who got on that Ham TD prop also pulled off an upset. A $100 bet would’ve netted $10,000.
Which brings us to this week’s edition of …
Here’s Hoping You Had It
It’s not all about making big bets or cashing out huge on a 10-leg parlay. Which, just to be clear, is rare. Always keep that firmly in mind.
Sometimes, it’s about putting 10 bucks on a single straight bet, backing a long shot or semi-long shot, and getting a solid return on investment.
Ham was probably the best example in Week 15. But there were others who paid nice dividends.
In Thursday’s Falcons-Buccaneers meeting, Kyle Pitts was +8000 to score three or more touchdowns. The tight end delivered a three-TD performance, helping Atlanta rally for a 29-28 road upset.
And someone actually had it at Fanatics, putting $100 on that player prop to bank $8,000 in profit (total payout $8,100).
In that same game, Atlanta trailed 28-14 early in the fourth quarter, at which point you could’ve gotten +2000 odds on the Falcons to win the game. A hundred bucks there — while generally not advisable — would’ve netted $2,000 profit.
In the Ravens-Bengals matchup, Baltimore third-string running back Rasheen Ali was +4500 to score the first TD.
It took a while for the Ravens to get going, but Ali made it 7-0 on a 30-yard catch-and-run to put Baltimore up 7-0 late with 4:35 left in the second quarter.
If you’d put 10 bucks on that, you’d be sitting on a wallet with an extra $450 in it today. If you got frisky and put $100 on Ali, then you’d have a healthy $4,500 profit.
At Caesars Sports, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was +1600 to score the first TD of the game against the Chargers. Six minutes into the first quarter, Mahomes ran it in from 12 yards out.
A tenner on that would’ve netted $160. Or $1,600 if you made a $100 wager.
Parlay Partay
At Fanatics Sportsbook, a customer nicely gamed out the Jets-Jaguars game. The bettor put $100 on a five-leg parlay:
- Jaguars -13.5 (-115)
- Over 41 points (-110)
- Jags running back Bhayshul Tuten +285 anytime touchdown
- Jets wideout Adonai Mitchell +400 anytime touchdown
- Jags wideout Brian Thomas Jr. +190 anytime touchdown
Add up all those odds, and you arrive at +11000, or 110/1. But the customer also utilized a 20% profit boost promotion, hiking the odds to +13200 (132/1).
The first two legs were no sweat at all. Jacksonville beat the total on its own and easily covered the spread in a 48-20 blowout.
The last three legs didn’t require more antiperspirant, either. Tuten, Mitchell and Thomas all found the end zone by the first minute of the second quarter.
So that $100 turned into a tremendous ROI payout of $13,300.
Also at Fanatics, for Thursday’s Falcons-Bucs game, a bettor strung together a 16-leg parlay. Mind you, those almost never hit. The odds of +30000 (300/1) imply as much.
But somehow, every leg of this mini-lottery ticket came through:Â
That allowed $25 to evolve into $7,525. Well done.
Campus Cash-Out
Bets with ties to Indiana are having a pretty good run this season. That includes a couple noteworthy wagers on quarterback Fernando Mendoza in Heisman Trophy odds.
On Saturday night in New York city, Mendoza won the award. At some point months ago, when Mendoza was a +10000 long shot (100/1) to claim the individual honor, a DraftKings Sportsbook customer wagered $1,000 at those odds.
Now, that bettor is sitting on a $100,000 win.
At Circa Sports in Las Vegas, a customer put $100 on Mendoza at even longer odds of +15000 (150/1), for a bet made on Aug. 28. That bettor cleaned up for 15 grand.
Also, months ago, a FanDuel customer put together a four-leg Indiana futures parlay, wagering a mere $15 on:
- Indiana to go undefeated in the regular season
- Indiana to win the Big Ten
- Indiana to make the College Football Playoff
- Indiana to win the CFP
All that remains is the final leg, on a parlay with odds of +36627, or just beyond 366/1. If the top-seeded Hoosiers win it all, then the bettor’s 15 bucks become $5,509.11.
I Like Big Bets and I Cannot Lie
Major wagers landed from Thursday through Sunday on NFL Week 15 odds. As noted above, the biggest bet was a big loser, as $1.05 million on Patriots moneyline went up in smoke after the Bills’ big comeback.
Other notable wagers over the past few days:
- $200,000 Giants -2.5 vs. Commanders (DraftKings). New York never even led in a 29-21 loss. So that’s another big donation to the house.
- $111,000 Rams -6 (-111) vs. Lions (Caesars). Los Angeles narrowly covered that spread in a 41-34 victory. The bettor profited $100,000 (total payout $211,000).
- $94,725.81 Patriots moneyline +103 vs. Bills (Caesars). We all know how that played out. That’s a high-five-figure loser.
- $50,000 Bucs -5.5 vs. Falcons (DraftKings). Tampa Bay blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and lost 29-28. Ouch.
- $40,000 Vikings moneyline +220 vs. Cowboys (DraftKings). Minnesota indeed got the outright upset, 34-26. So the bettor banked an $88,000 win (total payout $128,000).
- $40,000 Lions moneyline +205 vs. Rams. Detroit failed to pull the upset.
There were also a couple noteworthy bets backing Old Man Rivers and the Colts in Sunday’s road game vs. the Seahawks. Indy was a nearly two-touchdown underdog and, correspondingly, was a big moneyline underdog to win the game outright.
The Philip Rivers storyline made that moneyline more attractive. Caesars took a $25,000 Colts moneyline +525 wager, and DraftKings took a $10,000 Colts moneyline play at even better odds for the customer, +700.
Both bets nearly got there — for potential profits of $131,250 and $70,000, respectively — in what would’ve been a storybook type of game.
Alas, Rivers and the Colts lost 18-16 on a field goal with 18 seconds left.
Which makes this a good time to remind you that sports betting often doesn’t have storybook endings. So keep your expectations and your bet size 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 X: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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