Is there anything that the public betting masses love more than a popular favorite?
For decades, that’s been the case. But as sports betting has expanded and the menu has grown, there might be one thing that beats a trendy team: anytime touchdown parlays.
Stack up a few players whom you hope will reach the end zone — or better still, score multiple touchdowns — then bet a little to potentially win a lot.
It certainly worked for one bettor in NFL Week 12 odds, as $100 turned into a solid five-figure payday.
More on that profitable parlay, other fun wins and big bets as we recap NFL betting this past weekend.
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Parlay Partay
On Sunday morning at Fanatics Sportsbook, a customer put together this $100 player-prop parlay:
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba +500 to score two or more touchdowns for the Seahawks
- Jahmyr Gibbs +160 to score two or more TDs for the Lions
- Derrick Henry +260 to score two or more TDs for the Ravens
- Quinshon Judkins +500 to score two or more TDs for the Browns
Judkins was the longer shot, but he made it easy for the bettor with two first-quarter TD runs in Cleveland’s 24-10 victory over the Raiders.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter, Smith-Njigba got his second score, during Seattle’s 30-24 win over Tennessee.
Henry reached his quota by the end of the third quarter in Baltimore’s 23-10 win vs. the New York Jets.
Gibbs provided the only sweat, and it wasn’t even much of one. He had a short TD catch in the second quarter, then a 49-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
For good measure, Gibbs scored the game-winning touchdown on a 69-yard run in overtime, giving Detroit a 34-27 victory over the upset-minded Giants.
Add up those odds, and you’ve got +36404, or in easier-to-consume terms, about 364/1. Multiply that times 100, and you’ve got a profit of $36,404.
It’s nice work if you can get it.
First-Class Ticket
One of the more fun NFL Sunday offerings is betting on which player will score the first touchdown of the day. It’s based on elapsed game time when the first TD occurs, among the wave of matchups that kick off at 1 p.m. ET.
Because the field is so expansive — there were seven games in the Week 12 early window — odds can get pretty juicy. More so if you bet on a player from a two-win team, on the road against the mighty Lions.
A DraftKings Sportsbook customer took just that path, wagering $100 on Giants wideout Wan’Dale Robinson +11000 — that’s 110/1 — to score the first TD of the day.
Just 2:04 into the first quarter, Robinson found the end zone to give the Giants a 7-0 lead and cash that ticket.
The bettor turned a profit of $11,000, needing only 124 seconds off the clock to do so. That’s tremendous ROI.
Here’s Hoping You Had It
As that Robinson bet shows, it’s not all about making big bets or cashing out huge on a 10-leg parlay, which, just to be clear, is rare.
Always keep that firmly in mind.
Sometimes, it’s about putting 10 bucks on a single straight bet, backing a long shot or semi-long shot, and getting solid ROI.
For example, betting in-game on the Cowboys to win, after falling behind the Eagles 21-0 early in the second quarter. Dallas still trailed by that margin into the final minute of the first half.
Smart bet? Probably not. But if you go in understanding that and keep your expectations reasonable, why not have a go?
With Dallas in a three-touchdown hole, FanDuel Sportsbook stretched the Cowboys to +1400 on the in-game moneyline. Oddsmakers were ostensibly signaling that Dak Prescott & Co. had little chance of winning.
But win they did.
The Cowboys didn’t surrender any more points while rallying for a 24-21 victory, clinched on a final-second field goal from Brandon Aubrey.
If you’d just tossed 10 bucks on that, then you’d have an extra $140 in your bank account today. Or maybe you got frisky and put $100 on it to cash out for $1,400.
Or how about this: Browns wideout Dylan Sampson +1700 anytime touchdown.
Midway through the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s 24-10 road win over the Raiders, Sampson turned a simple swing pass into a 66-yard score. That gave rookie QB Shedeur Sanders his first NFL TD pass, in his first start.
And if you put $10 on that Sampson anytime TD wager, then you bagged $170.
Free Ride
DraftKings offers a daily King of the Court promotion among its NBA betting markets. How it works: Customers attempt to pick which player will have the most combined points/rebounds/assists that day.
One customer — among probably thousands — recently hit the mark by correctly picking Nuggets star Nikola Jokić. For that, the customer was awarded a $30 bonus bet. So basically, a free ride on a subsequent wager.
The bettor put that $30 on a three-leg parlay of players to score two or more TDs Sunday: Judkins, Henry and Gibbs, at odds of +5559, or about 56/1.
As noted above, all three players hit that target. So with no money out of pocket, the customer banked $1,667.85.
I Like Big Bets and I Cannot Lie
Major wagers landed from Thursday through Sunday on NFL Week 12 odds. Among the biggest bets was one showing far too much faith in the Las Vegas Raiders.
At DraftKings, a customer put $125,000 on Raiders moneyline -162. Las Vegas just had to beat the visiting Browns, by any margin.
But this is the Raiders we’re talking about. I wouldn’t bet them with your money, let alone my own. Las Vegas didn’t reach the end zone until late in the fourth quarter and lost 24-10.
So that bet became a six-figure donation to the house.
They say misery loves company, and that bettor certainly had some this weekend, via three other major wagers that went begging at DraftKings:
- $200,000 Buccaneers +7 vs. Rams. Tampa got blown out 34-7.
- $60,000 Patriots -7 vs. Bengals. New England won 26-20, but didn’t cover that 7-point spread.
- $60,000 Bills -5.5 vs. Texans. Buffalo not only didn’t cover as the favorite, but lost outright 23-19 Thursday night.
Let those outcomes serve as a reminder that high-rollers can handle big-dollar damage. You and me? Not so much. Keep your wagers and your expectations reasonable.
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on X: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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