The 2008 NFL Week 1 results were in on the Sunday games. The bookies pretty much split the first part of the day but were clobbered during the second half.
The most bet on teams of the first half of the day were The New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints. Buffalo, Jacksonville and Pittsburgh had decent action as well.
Atlanta and Baltimore both looked like significant wins for the books.
In fact, after the Jets and Cowboys, the Lions were the most bet on team of the 2008 NFL Week 1, so Atlanta's 34-21 win over Detroit was huge for the books. Detroit was a -3 road favorite at Sportsbook.com
This was important since the Jets were a big win for the gambling public. The Jets/Dolphins game came down to the final seconds with Miami threatening to score a touchdown with a score of 20-14. But the Jets and Brett Favre walked off with a victory here. It was the second time a New York team squashed the bookies this week.
Sportsbook was chasing the action on Cincinnati but in the end Baltimore did win with little betting on the Ravens - a 17-10 victory here.
The Saints just managed to squeak out a win for gamblers with New Orleans covering this game, which went back and forth, against the Tampa Bay Bucs. This was a 24-20 win by New Orleans.
The books won a bit of money with the Titans beating the Jaguars.
Pittsburgh was a small win for the gambling public, beating the Texans easily 38-17.
New England won but did not cover after a Tom Brady injury. This was another win by the books.
Elsewhere, Philadelphia pummeled St. Louis with a final score of 38-3 and an easy cover.
So while the books got clobbered by the Jets and Saints win, they made up for it big time with Atlanta and Baltimore's victories. Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia's decisive wins helped the gamblers out. New England and Jacksonville's failures to win ATS (and Jaguars losing outright) paid off for the bookmakers.
The bookies were looking for a Cleveland cover against Dallas in the afternoon games. A San Francisco cover against Arizona would also pay off and a cover against the spread by Chicago would solidify things for the books as well. That didn't happen though as both teams failed to cover. The bookies especially took a hit with the Dallas win. And even Carolina's upset win over San Diego on the road was a win for the betting public.
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
