According to BitcoinsOddsChecker, the various online Bitcoin sports books which offer odds on NFL games are favoring the Chicago Bears, the LA Rams, and the Denver Broncos the most.
Some gamblers may have taken the odds on the Bills prior to the match as a gift from heaven, banking on the New England Patriots having one of their classic mistake-making rounds. They would have been disappointed.
Buffalo Bills Were Yielding Crazy Odds by Game’s End
By the end of the match, the odds on the Bills had increased to 440 or 5.4 in the decimal system, meaning that someone who was crazy enough to plunk down .25 BTC on Cloudbet or Sportsbet or any of the other online sportsbooks (these are the two this reporter is most familiar with), they’d have won over 1.3 BTC in the event that the Bills won. But, as these things go, of course they wouldn’t have won anything. The odds were locked in the 4th quarter, when the score was 21-6, with bets on the Patriots yielding just $17 per $100 bet, depending on when lots had been cast.
The Bills and Patriots game was a much simpler match-up for gamblers than the other games happening Sunday. Their win-loss records for the season were exactly inverse of each other: the Patriots had 9 wins and 5 losses, while the Bills had 5 wins and 9 losses. The last game against the Bills, on October 29th, saw similar results of 25-6 Patriots.
Near the beginning of the season, the Patriots suffered two straight losses against Jacksonville and, of all teams, the Detroit Lions. The Lions game had people believing that the Patriots’ dynasty was effectively over, the Lions being a team that most people, especially gamblers, have long written off, classified with the Cleveland Browns as a team that just won’t ever get it together. The Lions have only posted 6 wins in the pre-season and regular season this year, the Patriots being one of them. At time of writing, ESPN.com gave them a 97% chance of losing their ongoing match against the Minnesota Vikings.
Following the embarrassing defeat by the Lions, however, the Patriots posted 6 straight wins until they fell against the Tennessee Titans a rowdy 34-10. An Augur predictions market was opened on the Patriots record for the season back in August, before the season began. Their next game on December 30th will determine the outcome of that market, which is whether or not they will win over 10.5 games this regular season. Today’s win is their 10th, so they have to win against the New York Jets (4-10) in order for those who said “yes” to win in that market.
Bears and Rams Favored By Bookmakers
The LA Rams, formerly of St. Louis, have had a truly incredible season, with 11 wins and 3 losses at time of writing. The odds on them are pitifully in line with this momentum – 1.142 are the best odds being offered, meaning that if someone were to bet the same .25 BTC from our earlier example and win, they would only clear about .035 BTC in profits. Meanwhile if they bet on the Arizona Cardinals and the Cards manage an upset, the gambler would clear over $5000 or, similar to our other example, 1.3 BTC.
The win-loss records of the two teams in question play heavily into the odds that bookmakers provide. While some games are “easy money” for those who know their sports, occasionally upsets can create havoc in the sportsbook world, especially when people borrow the funds to bet with. Bitcoin gambling is perhaps superior in this respect in that the funds have to be deposited before the bets can be cast, meaning that the bookmaker can be sure to satisfy all payouts.
The Bears have likewise had an amazing season, posting a better record thus far than the New England Patriots (10-4). Their match-up today against the San Francisco 49ers is not as decided in the minds of the bookmakers, the best odds on the 49ers being 2.856. The best odds on the Bears are 1.507. Note that the odds on the LA Rams and Chicago Bears games are from before the games started – during the game the odds will shift. Going back to our earlier example of a quarter-bitcoin bet, someone who did so on the Bears would come out with an additional .37 or $1479.
However, in the semi-likely event that the San Francisco 49ers (4-10) upset the Bears, then someone could stand to gain over $1800 on a .25 BTC bet, or .45 BTC. The odds provided on this match demonstrate that the historical positions of the teams play heavily into the odds as well. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the 49ers won 5 superbowls. They also went to the Super Bowl in 2013 and lost against the Ravens by a slim 3 points. The Bears, on the other hand, only have one Superbowl ring out of two appearances. They lost in 2007 to the Indianapolis Colts and won in 1986 against a very different Patriots franchise. These things being the case, bookmakers have to carefully decide how likely it is that the 49ers won’t surprise the Bears, and they seemed to have determined that the odds are somewhat reasonable that the 49ers will overcome.
For those interested in using Bitcoin to bet on NFL games, SportsBet.io lets the user watch the game live. It also often provides the best odds, but not always. For instance, to get the best odds on the 49ers, one would have gone to 1xBit, and for the best odds on the Bears, they would have gone to Nitrogen sports.
However, the odds difference between the two was a health full point at Sportsbet on that game – 1.5 even on the Bears and 2.550 on the 49ers. Every site has different advantages and disadvantages. Cloudbet.com only allows Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on its platform, while Sportsbet allows Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a few fiat currencies including the Japanese Yen. SportsBet also allows those who have made a deposit to watch the game live on the site.
Perhaps the best way to approach it is to use a tool like BitcoinsOddsChecker to determine the odds on various platforms and then cast your bets across them to get the best results. Another useful tool is OddsShark, which provides odds for fiat book and has a number of tools and guides to help a newer gambler understand terminology and odds.
Disclaimer: The author or CCN do not endorse any of the sites or teams mentioned in this article, and everything said here is for informational purposes only.
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