Most sportsbooks understand that the fall is typically the peak of the sports betting year. Of course, certain events draw a lot of attention from bettors, but NFL and college football betting are seemingly the most popular every year.
Although there are other markets like the NBA Finals and MLB playoffs at West Virginia sportsbooks, football is still the driving force of the action this year.
It is no surprise that a lot of the betting handle in the Mountain State and around the country is coming online. Sports betting apps are generating more wagers than ever, and taking some sizable bets worth noting.
Some of the best online sportsbooks available in WV are also offered in other states in the US:
Each of these online options has reported taking some significant bets, sometimes upward of $1 million.
Some of these bets are on common lines like the point spread or total; however, others have come in on player props.
A few weeks ago, a bettor in New Jersey placed a bet worth nearly $800,000 on the game total between the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars.
The DraftKings customer took the over on the alternate total of 41.5 points with odds of -270.
Miami won 31-13, hitting the over and providing a win for the wager. The bettor won almost $300,000.
While this bet wasn’t placed in WV, the state is seeing plenty of attention on football markets.
As a whole, WV sportsbooks accepted more than $19 million for the week of Sept. 26. Around 81% of bets were placed with an online sportsbook.
Let’s take a look at some other substantial NFL bets placed at the top sports betting apps available to residents.
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NFL betting with DraftKings sportsbook
DraftKings is one of the best online sportsbooks in WV and the US, so it’s no surprise that it takes some serious wagers.
Besides the over bet on the Dolphins game, the sportsbook took several other interesting wagers throughout the first few weeks of the season.
Unfortunately, some Giants fans weren’t as lucky as the first bet.
DraftKings took one wager worth $500,000 on the Giants to cover the four-point spread against the 49ers. San Francisco won the game by 27.
Another bettor put $500,000 on the Giants’ quarterback to hit the over on his passing yards total. With the total set at 244.5 yards, Daniel Jones’ 179 yards were well short.
Even though bets of this size aren’t uncommon for outcomes of games and totals, they are for props. These massive propositional bets during the first few weeks even caught the attention of DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello.
According to ESPN, Avello said:
“These are some of the biggest prop bets that you’ll ever see. … We have a lot of customers that not only bet the sides, totals and money lines, but they like to bet on the props, too, and they want to bet a substantial amount of money, so we accommodate those customers.”
Some of this crazy action continued last weekend, as well.
A DraftKings bettor netted over $1 million after winning a $2 million, three-team parlay. It consisted of three moneyline favorites, two from college football and one from the NFL.
When Florida at -667, Tennessee at -500, and the Los Angeles Rams at -835 won, the bettor took home more than seven figures.
There was another big hit on the over in the Jaguars’ game total, too. A bettor won over $530,000 thanks to a $1.4 million wager on the alternate total of 42.5.
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More online sports betting
Other online sportsbooks available in the Mountain State are taking lots of other notable bets.
William Hill Sportsbook, which just recently launched in WV, is a known commodity in the gambling world. Its online sportsbook paid out around $7,500 on the Colts to beat the Jets during Week 3.
The $52,000 wager on the -700 favorite ended up being a good decision. Indianapolis won easily, 36-7.
BetMGM Sportsbook has also seen its fair share of sizable bets. The online sportsbook is very popular around the US and is one of the best platforms offered in WV.
These past couple of weeks, BetMGM accepted a few bets that stuck out among the others.
One bettor placed $150,000 on three separate games’ point spreads in Week 3, putting action down on the Bucs -8, Dolphins +5.5 and Lions +6.5.
Despite the Lions coming up short against the Cardinals, the bettor hit on the two others.
Then this past week, BetMGM saw two different six-figure bets on the Cardinals to cover against the Panthers. When the Panthers won outright, those two bettors lost $330,000 and $230,000, respectively.
For the Sunday night game last week, FanDuel Sportsbook received a wager of $585 on Carson Wentz to score the first touchdown of the game. His odds were +3600.
When the Eagles’ quarterback rushed for an 11-yard score in the first quarter for the first points of the game, the bettor cashed in on more than $21,000.
Earlier in the NFL season, another FanDuel customer won a similar touchdown prop. Instead of just one player to score the first touchdown, a bettor parlayed five different players to score at any point in their game.
When Dalvin Cook, Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey and Todd Gurley all scored, the $2,500 parlay won over $50,000.
