Million-dollar bets rolling in on Rams, Patriots
ATLANTA — With kickoff only hours away, enormous bets have been rolling in on the Super Bowl … and not entirely in the direction you’d expect.
The Patriots are favorites — not heavy favorites, but general across-the-board favorites — but big-money bets have started arriving on the Rams, according to various Vegas reports. MGM Resorts has reported a $2 million bet on the Rams, while bookmaker William Hill took in a $1.5 million bet on Los Angeles. A third bet of $300,000 came in at South Point. All three bets were made on the money line of +120, meaning a $100 bet would return $120, and a million-dollar bet would return a whole lot more than $120.
ESPN sources indicated that the bets were made by the infamous “Bettor X,” an anonymous bettor who placed large sums on the World Series and Super Bowl last year and ended up cashing a $25 million profit when both the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Eagles won.
On the other hand, some significant bets have favored New England. MGM reported a Saturday bet of just into the seven figures on New England at -2.5. And the first nine five-figure bets were on New England. But sports book officials noted that the majority of bets would be placed in the final 48 hours before the game.
One interesting note: the MVP voting. Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s MVP chances opened at 70-to-1, but heavy betting on Donald forced that line down to 15-to-1. Tom Brady remains the MVP favorite at +125.
The Patriots are a consensus 2.5-point favorite over the Rams, with an over/under of 56.5 points.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
More from Yahoo Sports:
• Watch Super Bowl LIII live stream free with the Yahoo Sports app
• LeBron, Durant wear Kaepernick jerseys ahead of Super Bowl LIII
• Lakers reportedly underwhelm Pelicans with initial Davis offer
• Patriots’ McCourty twins living out their childhood dream
