Sports Betting Weekly Wrap: Brock Purdy Wins Bettor $125K, Bettors Dilemma On McCaffrey Vs. Hill And How Bad Are The Detroit Pistons?

Here’s a look at the top stories for the week, top bets cashed and what’s next in the world of sports betting.

NFL Playoffs Picture Still Not Clear: Heading into week 16 of the National Football League season, the NFL playoffs are still wide open for many teams. The only AFC team to currently qualify for the playoffs are the 11-3 Baltimore Ravens. For the NFC, only the Dallas Cowboys (10-4), Philadelphia Eagles (10-4) and San Francisco 49ers (11-3) have qualified. Only six of the 32 teams have been eliminated from the postseason.

One of the teams to be eliminated is the New York Jets, who, among North American sports teams, have the longest active streak of not making the postseason, after missing the playoffs for 13 straight seasons. The Jets were a popular Super Bowl LVIII pick at the start of the season, with odds of +1,600, after the team landed quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The team’s new star, however, was hurt in the opening game of the season.

Week 16 has some big games on the schedule, including a matchup between the league's top teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, on Christmas Day.

Brock Purdy MVP Ticket Sold: Benzinga recently shared that a bettor placed a $2,000 wager on 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to win the league MVP at the start of the season. After facing long odds, betting odds for Purdy have improved, as he has guided the team to a league-best 11-3 record. The bet would pay out $200,000 if Purdy ultimately wins MVP. The bettor listed the ticket on the bet slip exchange site PropSwap, sought $100,000 and turned down an offer of $90,000. The slip was re-listed and eventually sold for $125,000, according to Darren Rovell.

Dodgers Big Free Agency: After the Los Angeles Dodgers landed prized free agent and MLB two-way pitching and hitting star Shohei Ohtani, the team has another big signing. The Dodgers signed Ohtani to a $700 million contract. This week, the team also signed Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract. Yamamoto has been dominant in Japan, having won the pitching Triple Crown by leading the Nippon Professional Baseball in wins, ERA and strikeouts last season. Yamamoto has a 49-16 record, an ERA of 1.44 and 580 strikeouts over the last three seasons. The Dodgers finished the 2023 MLB season with the third-best record, going 100-62. The team faced an early playoff exit at the hands of the red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks. With the addition of Ohtani, the Dodgers were the betting favorite at odds of +425 at DraftKings. With the addition of Yamamoto, the Dodgers have moved up to +400, ahead of the Atlanta Braves at +700.

Detroit Pistons Making the Wrong Kind of History: The 2023-2024 NBA season has been a struggle for the Detroit Pistons. After going 2-1 to start the season, the Pistons now have a record of 2-26 and have lost 25 straight NBA contests. The team is on the verge of making history, as they approach the NBA’s longest losing streaks, which stand at 26 games held by the 2010-2011 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-2014 Philadelphia 76ers.The 76ers lost 28 straight games in 2015 across two seasons.

One DraftKings bettor placed a $40 wager on the Pistons not winning another game this season at odds of +100,000. The bet would pay out a profit of $40,000 if the Pistons finish 2-80. The worst record in NBA history is 9-73, which is held by the 1972-1973 Philadelphia 76ers. DraftKings is offering the Pistons over/under on season wins at 9.5 with the over paying odds of -700 and the under paying odds of +475.

Big Bets: A bettor on FanDuel, a unit of Flutter Entertainment, has an interesting NFL Awards parlay open. The bet includes 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey winning the NFL Offensive Player of the Year, Eagles Jalen Carter winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell winning Coach of the Year. The $10 bet pays out a profit of $10,715 if all three win the awards. The bettor has the option to cash out and take $944.26 right now.

Carter was listed at +550 when the bet was made and is now the huge favorite at odds of -10,000. McCaffrey was listed at +1,400 when the bet was made and is now listed as the favorite at -165. Campbell was listed at +1,000 when the bet was made and is now the favorite at +200. While Carter will likely win, the other two legs face tougher competition. Tyreek Hill is close behind McCaffrey at +105 and could break the single-season-receiving-yards record. Campbell has several coaches behind him and needs the Lions to keep winning.

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