Category: Sports betting

Coronavirus sports postponements and cancellations: The latest

Coronavirus postponements and cancellations in the sports world: tracking the latest

Tracking noteworthy sports postponements & cancellations during the coronavirus pandemic:

NCAA

  • Canceled all remaining winter and spring championships, including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments
  • Most conferences suspended on-campus and off-campus recruiting, as well official and unofficial visits; length of suspension varies by conference
  • Suspended all recruiting on and off campus for all sports until at least April 15, according to sources

Auto racing

NASCAR

  • Postponed race events scheduled for this weekend in Atlanta and the following weekend in Homestead, Fla.

INDYCAR

  • Canceled all series events through April

Formula 1

  • Postponed start of season; expects to begin season at end of May

Baseball

MLB

  • Canceled remaining spring training games
  • Delayed start of regular season, including minor leagues, by at least two weeks

Basketball

NCAA

  • Canceled men’s and women’s basketball tournaments

NBA

Football

NCAA

  • Most conferences have canceled spring football practices and spring games

NFL

  • Prohibited “all in-person pre-draft visits involving draft-eligible players effective at the end of this business day, until further notice”
  • Several teams suspended travel to pro days

XFL

  • Canceled remainder of regular season; “committed to playing a full season in 2021”

Golf

PGA

  • Postponed tournaments through April 12, including the Masters (April 9-12); hope to hold events, especially the Masters, at a later date

LPGA

  • Postponed tournaments through April 15

European Tour

  • Postponed tournaments through April 26

Hockey

NHL

  • Suspended all games until “as soon as it is appropriate and prudent”

Soccer

MLS

  • Suspended season for 30 days

Premier League

  • Postponed season until April 3 at the earliest

UEFA

  • Postponed UEFA club competitions (including Champions League and Europa League) through March 21

Serie A

  • Postponed season through April 3

La Liga

  • Suspended games for first and second divisions

Combat sports

UFC

  • Moved Saturday’s UFC Fight Night Brazil to Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia with no spectators
  • Moved UFC Fight Night: Ngannou vs. Rozenstruik, scheduled for March 28, from Columbus, Ohio, to Las Vegas
  • Moved UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Harris, scheduled for April 11, from Portland, Ore., to Las Vegas

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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New Jersey sports betting hurt by loss of NCAA Tournament, Masters, NBA, MLB, NHL

As sports leagues continue to cancel and suspend events, the sports betting world is one of many areas being hurt

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The dominos fell with stunning speed over a 48-hour period this week as fear of spread of the coronavirus forced the suspension of the NBA, NHL and MLB seasons, while while the NCAA Tournament, one of gambling’s Holy Grails, was canceled altogether.

The 2020 Masters golf tournament has also been postponed, Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley announced Friday.

So while there’s bitter disappointment among players and fans, it’s also  crushing blow to New Jersey’s sports betting industry at a time when revenue records could have been shattered.

In what would have been one of the two busiest times of the year – some $540 million was wagered in the state in January in the buildup to Super Bowl LIV – the industry is on hold indefinitely during the COVID-19 outbreak around the country.

In the 21 months sports betting has been legal, the additional revenue stream has provided a much-needed lifeline to New Jersey’s horse racing industry at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park, with their respective sports books and online operations generating over $277 million in gross revenues during that time.

The Meadowlands has also canceled live harness racing through the weekend, with no decision made of the immediate future of racing.

“The ripple effect to sports betting will be profound because this extends so far beyond the sports wagering bubble,” said Daniel Wallach, a South Florida-based attorney who specializes in the sports betting industry. “This is just one subset of a broader impact across every segments of American life, and that is going to have a continued impact.

“These are unprecedented times and the gambling industry will take a huge hit. As will so many industries. So there will be an immediate impact and a trickle-down impact over time.”

HELLO FRIENDS: Augusta National postpones the Masters

NEED A FIX? A guide to the sports events still taking place

How significant will the impact be?

Last March, the first time New Jersey gamblers were able to legally wager on the NCAA Tournament, some $372 million was bet during the month around the state, producing gross revenues of $31.7 million. The Meadowlands, which partners with FanDuel on sports betting, accounted for $17.5 million of that revenue, including $13.3 online. Monmouth Park, which has William Hill as its partner, did $2.7 million.

But the market has expanded dramatically in the state over the past 12 months as New Jersey challenges Nevada for leadership in the industry.

In January, the $53.6 million in gross revenues for the state represented a 185.2 percent increase year-over-year. And with the market continuing to mature, the handle could have topped the record handle of $562.7 million set last December, when $32.9 million in revenue was generated.

A closer look at the numbers New Jersey sports books produced in February show a 54.4 percent increase from a year earlier, with $494.8 million wagered, compared with $320.4 million in 2019.

“New Jersey’s year-over-year gains remained impressive in February, but we are in uncharted territory now,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for the website PlayNJ.com. “Obviously there are bigger concerns with coronavirus, but the NBA is a major revenue driver for New Jersey’s sportsbooks. So the suspension of the season, in addition to suspensions of other sports, will undoubtedly have a significant effect.”

It’s not just New Jersey, with legal sports betting sweeping across the country after the 2018 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that the law that banned it in all but a few jurisdictions was unconstitutional.

The No. 1 sports betting state is Nevada. Sixteen states have legalized sports betting. All other states have imminent or long-range plays to make sports betting legal, except Idaho, Wisconsin and Utah.

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Oddsmakers weigh in on Nets’ next head coach

Could Kenny Atkinson stay in New York but coach for a different NBA team? Oddsmakers weigh in.

When 2019-20 comes to a close there’s no guarantee Jacque Vaughn will continue to be the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. When the organization announced he would take over for Kenny Atkinson, the Nets said Vaughn would hold the position for the rest of the season.

With that being the case, there’s been no shortage of speculation as to who will be the next Nets head coach. The NBA media has weighed in and thrown around names like Mark Jackson and Tyronn Lue, the latter of which coached Kyrie Irving in Cleveland.

Oddsmakers have taken those individuals being considered and set a field for who will be Brooklyn’s next head coach.

BetOnline.ag has Lue as the favorite at 5/4 odds, with Jackson right behind him (2/1). SportsBetting.ag also feels Lue (+125) and Jackson (+200) are the two leading candidates for next head of the Brooklyn Nets.

Both sites feature Vaughn on their list of candidates — 6/1 odds on BetOnline and +600 on SportsBetting — but he’s fourth in both cases, trailing Jeff Van Gundy (5/1 on BetOnline, +500 on SportsBetting).

Also featured on both lists are Tom Thibodeau (7/1, +700), Jason Kidd (9/1, +900) and Brooklyn’s director of player development and assistant coach Adam Harrington (10/1, +1,000).

Both sports betting sites also presented fans with a question about Atkinson’s future.

BetOnline asked “Will Kenny Atkinson be Knicks head coach for the 2020-2021 NBA Season?” The odds have been set a 1/1 for “yes” and 5/7 for “no.”

SportsBetting asked a similar one, though slightly different: “Will Kenny Atkinson be the Knicks next head coach?” The difference here is the Knicks could easily move on from Mike Miller before Atkinson is ready to take a new job. This line has been set at -120 for both “yes” and “no.”

RELATED: Every name tied to Nets’ head coaching job

Oddsmakers reset Nets projected 2019-20 win total

Originally, oddsmakers saw the Brooklyn Nets winning just under 45 games this year. Now even 40 wins seems to be too high of a mark to some.

Coming out of the 2020 NBA All-Star break, the Brooklyn Nets are currently the No. 7 team in the Eastern Conference standings with a record of 25-28 through the first 53 games of the 2019-20 season.

Originally, BetOnline — who also had Spencer Dinwiddie as the odds-on favorite to win the 2020 Skills Challenge heading into NBA All-Star Saturday — set the Nets’ regular season win total over/under at 43 1/2 wins. Brooklyn has 29 games left on the schedule. So, in order to surpass the original mark, the Nets would have to go 19-10 for the remainder of the season.

BetOnline has set new 2019-20 over/under win totals for teams across the NBA, and with the way this season has gone so far for the Nets, the site has dropped the over/under by a few games.

BetOnline now has Brooklyn’s over/under win total at 38 1/2 games. The Nets have to go 14-15 the rest of the way in order to finish with 39 wins. This would require the Nets to register a slightly better winning percentage (.483) than the one they’ve had throughout the first 53 games of the season (.472).

Why you should bet on Clemson to win national championship

Previewing the NCAA Championship Game with the Clemson Tigers and LSU Tigers, sports betting odds and lines, with matchup analysis, picks and tips.

The Clemson Tigers are in the CFP brackets for a fifth straight year. On Monday night at the Superdome, HC Dabo Swinney and company will take on LSU in the National Championship Game, marking Clemson’s fourth final in five years. A win on Monday would be back-to-back titles and a third championship trophy in four years. If you are thinking about betting on the Clemson Tigers to do just that, here are a few reasons backing your decision.

1. Clemson’s Defense

Some pundits have decried the old “defense wins championships” as being outdated in modern, spread, RPO college football. That statement isn’t truly outdated, but an updated version would be “defense, along with offense, wins championships.” And that seems like common sense, if not exactly some Rosetta Stone of pigskin knowledge.

Good defenses… in fact, great defenses have been quite effective over the first five years of championship bracket ball. By one reliable analytic measure, three of five titles have been won be teams rated either first or second in defense. Only in 2014, when Ohio State beat Oregon, was the winning defense not a top-10 unit. And that year sided with defense being more important: OSU’s 14th-ranked defense beat Oregon’s top-ranked offense. The Ducks’ defense? No. 38.

The teams winning titles have been better on defense than they are on offense (like Clemson this year). The 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide ranked No. 1 on defense … and No. 24 on offense. Scores of games may be higher, but there can still be plenty of tremendous and crucial defensive plays turned in 38-35 game. On defense, the Clemson Tigers are former elite recruits who have received elite college coaching. They are especially proficient in situational defense, on third downs and in the red zone. They are better at such than any team LSU has faced this season.

Get some action on this game or others by placing a bet at BetMGM.

2. Clemson’s Game Control

Other than the win over Ohio State, Clemson can’t claim statistical game comps to LSU’s victories over Florida, Auburn, Alabama and Georgia. But then, none of those teams hold a candle to the 2019 Buckeyes, which is a team that may have won the lion’s share of the brackets if they could be played 100 times on a loop. Clemson’s “poor-man’s comps” – routs of North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest and Virginia (all top 60s) – were just that commanding in the area of game control.

That ability to play at their pace, control the exchange of field position, get multi-score leads and boat-race opponents stems from RB Travis Etienne. His ability to move first-down markers and find pay dirt (8.0 yards per carry, 18 touchdowns), and the ability of DC Brent Venables and his troops to force three-and-outs at the front of drives or field-goal attempts at the end of them.

3. Five-and-a-Half Points

Clemson doesn’t have to win outright for you to win your point-spread bet! The Clemson Tigers are 12-2 against the spread over their last 14 neutral-site games and 8-2 over their last 10 games as an underdog. Odds last updated at 6:00 p.m. EST.

And that last note includes the 2019 title game when Clemson beat Alabama  44-16. All hail Charles K. McNeil, inventor of the point spread.

Follow @SportsbookWire on Twitter.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship, and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Updated Saints-Vikings over/under still climbing, highest of wild-card round games

Updated betting odds favor the New Orleans Saints over the Minnesota Vikings, but the over/under has climbed as the injury report improved.

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We might have a barn-burner when the New Orleans Saints kick off against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, in the second leg of the NFL’s wild-card games. According to updated odds from BetMGM, the Saints are still favored to beat the Vikings by 7.5 points — but the over/under has climbed up to 49.5, the highest projected total of the week. It suggests a finish in the neighborhood of Saints 29, Vikings 21.

The over/under totals set for the three other wild-card round games range from a week-low between the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans (43.5, with the Texans favored by 2.5) to a middling game with the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots (44.5, Patriots by 4.5), and a next-best finale when the Seattle Seahawks visit the Philadelphia Eagles (45.5, Seahawks narrowly favored by 1.5). Expectations are that the Saints and Vikings will produce some fireworks in an otherwise quiet weekend.

And that’s probably due to the health of players returning from injury on both sides. Minnesota is welcoming starting running back Dalvin Cook and his backup, rookie Alexander Mattison, into the lineup. They’ll be playing with all-star wide receiver Adam Thielen who has dealt with his own injury issues this season; altogether, they should give a powerful shot in the arm to the Kirk Cousins-led Vikings offense.

As for the Saints: their injury report listed starting safeties Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams as having put in a full practice on Friday, which suggests they’ll each take the field on Sunday. They’ve been good for a turnover almost every week they’ve played (Bell lead the team with 5 fumble recoveries in the regular season, while Williams did the same with 4 interceptions), with Bell chipping in the Saints’ first defensive touchdown of the year in his scoop-and-score fumble return against the Seahawks back in Week 3. They can both inject some real play-making ability at the perfect time for New Orleans.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Opening odds favor Saints to beat the Vikings by more than a TD

The New Orleans Saints are favored by more than a touchdown over the Minnesota Vikings in their wild card round matchup in the 2019 playoffs

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The NFL has set its playoff schedule for next week’s wild card round games, and the New Orleans Saints are readying for a rematch against the Minnesota Vikings, who eliminated them in 2017.

That was a returning of the favor from their last postseason matchup in 2009, when the Saints beat Minnesota to advance to (and win) the Super Bowl. The Vikings didn’t follow New Orleans’ example, however, instead getting run off the field by the Philadelphia Eagles. Minnesota went on to miss the playoffs the next year with an 8-7-1 record, while the Saints beat that same Eagles team twice by a combined score of 68-21. Makes you think that maybe the wrong team won back in 2017, but let’s not dwell on it.

Per the latest odds from BetMGM, the Saints are 7.5-point home favorites over the Vikings for this latest entry in their long-running series. With an initial over/under of 46.5, that implies a final score in the neighborhood of Saints 28, Vikings 20. In other words, bettors are expecting a competitive game, with New Orleans ultimately coming out on top. We’ll see soon whether Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins can finally have a good game on a big stage, and test how well Minnesota’s running game performs against a staunch Saints defensive front.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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Saints open up as 12.5-point road favorites over reeling Panthers

Opening betting odds suggest the New Orleans Saints are a popular bet to overwhelm the reeling Carolina Panthers in the NFL’s Week 17 finale.

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For the second year in a row, the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers are scheduled to close out the NFL regular season in a maybe-meaningful Week 17 game. Sure, circumstances aren’t the same as last season — the Saints won’t be resting their starters and putting Teddy Bridgewater under center, and the Panthers won’t have longtime head coach Ron Rivera at the wheel — but the fact remains that this game means more for one team than the other.

But with the Saints in position to claim a top-two seed in the NFC playoff standings (with some help) and the Panthers looking to play spoiler, both squads are going to give their best effort. Per the opening odds from BetMGM, that’s going to be futile for Carolina. The Saints are favored by 12.5 points on the road this week, with an over/under set at 47.5. That implies a finish in the neighborhood of Saints 30, Panthers 18.

With rookie quarterback Will Grier expected to start again, the Saints defense will have opportunities to go into the playoffs on a high note. That’s despite a pair of recent losses in the secondary, after free safety Marcus Williams and cornerback Eli Apple exited Sunday’s game with the Tennessee Titans with injuries. We’ll learn the extent of those issues when the Saints release their first injury report on Wednesday.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

Will Wall Street gamble on DraftKings? Sports betting giant plans to go public, close two mergers

Sports betting giant DraftKings plans to merge with two other firms and go public, the Boston-based company announced Monday. DraftKings said it will complete its merger with gambling tech firm SBTech and acquisition company Diamond Eagle …

Sports betting giant DraftKings plans to merge with two other firms and go public, the Boston-based company announced Monday.

DraftKings said it will complete its merger with gambling tech firm SBTech and acquisition company Diamond Eagle Acquisition sometime in the first half of 2020.

DraftKings said the combined company will be valued at $3.3 billion, and it will have $500 million on hand once the deal is complete.

The new company will retain the DraftKings moniker and company co-founder and CEO Jason Robins will continue to lead it, along with a management team that includes co-founders Paul Liberman and Matt Kalish.

DraftKings said it will also reincorporate in Nevada but remain physically headquartered in Boston, where it’s one of the city’s largest tech companies, with roughly 600 workers in its recently opened headquarters in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston.

The three companies are merging through a special purpose acquisition, a method of taking a company public that differs from the more familiar initial public offering, or IPO, process, DraftKings said.

The new company will effectively assume Diamond Eagle’s publicly-traded status, though under a new stock ticker symbol.

It will also receive a $400 million infusion from the Los Angeles-based company, which was founded earlier this year by Jeff Sagansky, a former president of CBS Entertainment, and Harry Sloan, a former chairman and CEO of MGM, in order to invest in media and digital entertainment ventures.

SBTech’s management team, meanwhile, will be integrated into the new company, but the details of that won’t be made public until next year, according to DraftKings.

The company has offices on the Isle of Man, in London and elsewhere in Europe, and provides sports betting software and programs to gambling operations globally. It was founded in 2007.

DraftKings was founded in Boston in 2012 as a purveyor of daily fantasy sports contests, which are are online games that challenge players to build rosters of actual athletes in order to vie for cash and other prizes based on how those athletes do in games.

The company has since expanded into online and retail sports books operations in the handful of states that have legalized sports betting, including Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Iowa, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York.

DraftKings had previously attempted to merge with its chief rival, FanDuel.

But the two companies scrapped the plans in 2017 after the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of California and the District of Columbia sued to block it over antitrust concerns.

New York-based FanDuel completed a merger with Dublin-based gaming giant Paddy Power Betfair last year instead.

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Road-warrior Saints barely favored over Titans in opening Week 16 odds

The New Orleans Saints and Tennessee Titans are preparing for their Week 16 kickoff, and the Saints are favored per the opening betting line

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The New Orleans Saints must hit the road for the final two weeks of the regular season, visiting the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Week 16 and then the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in the Week 17 finale. The Saints have traveled exceptionally well this season, losing just one of their first six road games. But they’re facing a desperate Titans squad that needs a win to remain in the AFC playoff picture, and without the benefit of a normal week after playing on Monday night.

Per the opening line from BetMGM, the Saints are still favored over the Titans, but barely. The Titans are 2.5-point home underdogs against New Orleans, with an over/under of 50.5 points — one of the week’s highest. That suggests a final score around Saints 27, Titans 24. That’s as close as wins get in the NFL.

It’s going to be fascinating to see whether Ryan Tannehill can continue making magic for Tennessee. The backup-turned-savior has played well since being named the starter, going 6-2 while leading the NFL in yards gained per pass attempt (9.5). He’s scored 17 touchdown passes while throwing just 6 interceptions, and added 4 touchdown runs on the ground. But he hasn’t exactly been challenged often, with just two of his last eight opponents owning a winning record.

Pressure couldn’t be higher on each of these teams. The Saints must win to keep their hopes of securing a top-two playoff seed alive. The Titans need a win to even get to the playoffs. Neither squad is going to give up an inch.

Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services.  Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.

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