As most of the country’s sportsbooks and bettors are lasered in on March Madness, the National Football Leagues legend couldn’t help but steal the limelight from college basketball’s youngsters.
In light of Brady’s announcement, numerous sportsbooks in Las Vegas received large wagers on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl.
The Bucs were priced at 50/1, and then wagers of $10 thousand and above came piling in at different online betting sites. Oddsmakers soon shuffled their odds whilst attempting to understand the sudden upsurge in Tampa Bay wagers. It wasn’t until three days later that the bookmakers would realize why.
Un-retiring
Brady announced he was un-retiring and would continue to play for the Bucs on Sunday at 7:13 PM EDT. His timing couldn’t have arrived at a busier period for sportsbooks – who had just received brackets for the NCAA March Madness tournament. Therefore, during one of the most active moments of the year for oddsmakers, they attempted to realign the NFL’s future odds when the Brady news spread.
Ed Salmons, a long-time bookmaker with SuperBook, commented: “It was hectic, intense.”
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Bookmakers working at SuperBook were struck with confusion, wondering what had happened on Thursday morning when a customer from New Jersey requested to make two wagers with a $10,000 stake on the Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl at 60/1 and the NFC at 30/1. SuperBook’s futures limit is $1000, but the placed bets still caused adjustment to Tampa’s Super Bowl and NFC odds, dropping to 25/1 and 12/1, respectively.
“We thought Deshaun Watson was going to Tampa,” SuperBook manager Randy Blum said. “We didn’t think it was about Brady at the time.”
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The sportsbook director for the South Point in Las Vegas has moved the Bucs’ future odds to 4/1, following the arrival of a customer who placed 50/1, 30/1, and 25/1 bets on Tampa. Despite refusing to share how much money was wagered, the director wasted no time putting Tampa Bay as the favorite to win it all.
Back to Favorites
Circa Sports manager Chris Bennett also shared that his book had taken a “significant” wager on the Bucs to win the Super Bowl at 30/1.
Caesars Sportsbook was one of the lone bookmakers who wasn’t offering odds on Brady winning the MVP trophy, but a handful of bets crept through as the news broke. Brady’s line went from 45/1 to 9/1.
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“A few bets got through right as the news was breaking, right when we were focused on the NCAA tournament,” Pullen of Caesars Sportsbook told ESPN. “I don’t think Brady had us oddsmakers in mind and what we’re doing for the NCAA tournament. It’d been nice if he would have, but I don’t expect him to sympathize with us.”
