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With Lebron James back in town, Cleveland area bookies have been making some serious coin on the new demand for Cleveland Cavalier bets.
Cleveland has always been a hardcore sports town with the Browns and Indians but the Cavs simply haven’t attracted the type of interest that comes with having a bona fide star the likes of Lebron.
And to prove this fact, the bookies had made Cleveland an odds-on favorite to win the 2015 NBA Championship early on in the season and they proved them right by participating in their first NBA Final since 2007. It is only their second in history.
But King James was not the only big name star player arriving in town. We also had newly drafted quarterback Johnny Manziel joining the Browns. But the Manziel era may have come to an abrupt end before it even started. He proved a big disappointment in his debut.
“These are two teams, the Cavaliers and Browns, who can actually win this season, and that often translates into covers,” said Don Shapiro of Gambling911.com News earlier in the year. “A lot of sports bettors living in the Cleveland area are fans first and it’s hard to get them to place bets against their favorite teams. Had they bet on the Browns last year, they would have made a nice profit.”
The Browns were 6-10 Against The Spread in 2013. That said, they actually had winning ATS records the two previous years, and that was the case at the end of 2014 as well. In fact, those betting the Cavs each week would have made a nice profit.
Sports betting in the Buckeye state is considered a misdemeanor though rarely do prosecutions occur unless bettors are linked to much larger organizations. Bookmaking is considered a felony in the state of Ohio.
- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com
