Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our betting buzz file -- with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others -- aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation.
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April 29: Pennsylvania joins online poker liquidity compact
David Purdum: American online poker's liquidity grew this week, as Pennsylvania joined New Jersey, Michigan, Nevada and Delaware in the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, allowing players to compete with other jurisdictions for shared prize pools on the web.
Caesars Entertainment announced Monday that it was expanding its World Series of Poker platform into Pennsylvania, becoming the first U.S. operator to allow players from four states to compete for shared prize pools. WSOP also offers online poker in Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan.
The expansion comes a month ahead of poker's most prominent time, culminating with the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas in July. The 2025 World Series Online Bracelet schedule kicks off May 31 and coincides with 56th annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The online tournament will be highlighted by $250 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed prize event begins on Day 1. Players will be allowed to play in the WSOP online will simultaneously competing in the in-person WSOP tournament in Las Vegas. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the compact agreement April 23.
"The addition of the Pennsylvania player pool to WSOP Online comes at the perfect time, and we're ready to give avid poker players in the Keystone State the opportunity to raise the stakes on their poker play," Danielle Barille, Vice President of Online Poker at Caesars Entertainment, said in a press release. "This expansion enhances the experience for players by building even greater prize pools that are up for grabs all summer long as a part of our jam-packed WSOP Online schedule. We're ready to see who earns our largest online prize pools ever once the first hands are dealt this summer."
April 24: From Caleb Williams to Cam Ward, bettors risk a lot to win a little on No. 1 picks
Purdum: The league championship was at stake on a Thursday night last April at Tropicana Lanes in Richmond Heights, Missouri, but struggling bowler Zach Opengart was sweating something else. Less than 48 hours prior, the local college student had crossed the border into Illinois to place a bet so outrageous that he refused to discuss it with his teammates: $11,311.52 on quarterback Caleb Williams to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft at -20,000.
Opengart, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis at the time, scrolled through his phone, searching for the latest draft scoop, glancing up only occasionally to watch for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to take the podium on TV. Opengart was nervous. It was a big bet, a large part of his bankroll. Probably too large, he says in reflection. At the same time, he was confident, convinced the Chicago Bears would take Williams at No. 1. Finally, Goodell walked up to the podium, welcomed everyone to the draft and announced Williams as the No. 1 pick.
Opengart had won $56 and some change off his $11,311.52 bet, and despite his unfocused performance, the bowling team went on to win the league title. The party was on. Drinks were on Opengart.
Betting markets on events such as the NFL draft are volatile and regularly feature extreme odds. They are difficult for bookmakers to manage and force bettors to consider whether risking a lot to win a little is worth it. Quarterback Cam Ward's odds to be the No. 1 pick in Thursday's draft could be found as short as -50,000 this week at some sportsbooks, meaning you'd need to bet $50,000 for a chance to net a $100 win. Caesars Sportsbook said on Tuesday that it had not taken any "notable" wagers on Ward to go No. 1 at the -50,000 odds it was offering, but added that such bets have happened in past drafts.
"Information events like the NFL draft are really tricky when it comes to offering odds," Joey Feazel, head of football trading at Caesars Sportsbook, told ESPN. "When it appears that a team like the [Tennessee] Titans is set on drafting Cam Ward with the first pick of the draft, we will offer odds that closely reflect the 99.99% probability of something like that happening."
Opengart, now an account manager for a marketing firm in St. Louis, said it's that level of certainty that attracts him to betting on heavy favorites, such as Williams last year.
"My thinking was a lot about the surety of the [Williams] bet in comparison with prior drafts," Opengart said in a recent phone interview with ESPN. "I had heard the Bears GM laughing about the idea of taking anybody else. It seemed like a sure thing to me."
At the same time, he says he doesn't want to risk that much of his bankroll again, but he hasn't stopped betting big favorites -- and not all of them have been winners. Opengart says he lost a couple thousand dollars trying to win around $100 by betting on Alabama to beat Vanderbilt in a college football game last season. The Crimson Tide lost outright as 22.5-point favorites, around -2800 on the money line.
"It was brutal, but I always say with betting, especially my style, that you have to have the memory of a goldfish," Opengart said. "The only thing that matters is the long-term return.
"I'm the type of person, if you'll give me a free 50 bucks ... I'll take it every time, get myself a steak dinner and be happy about it."
Opengart says he plans for his next "steak dinner bet" to be on Cooper Flagg to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this summer.
April 22: Travis Hunter's position classification causing dilemma for sportsbooks
Doug Greenberg: Travis Hunter is one of the most unique prospects in NFL history: His potential to be an elite player at both wide receiver and cornerback is as tantalizing as it is daunting for NFL teams, especially now that he has vehemently insisted that he will play both positions at the pro level. It also presents something of a dilemma for sportsbooks as they evaluate how to offer prop bets on the Colorado superstar ahead of the NFL draft.
Following comments from Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry praising Hunter on Thursday, the two-way superstar moved from -300 to -700 to go No. 2 overall to Cleveland, before finally settling at -1400, according to ESPN BET odds. Some bettors are holding out hope that Hunter could rise or drop on draft night, as he has attracted the most tickets to go No. 1 and the most handle to go No. 3 at BetMGM.
Still, QB Cam Ward and Edge Abdul Carter also show prohibitive odds to go No. 1 and No. 3 overall, respectively, and with all of those players being seen as the consensus best draft options at their positions -- with Hunter topping two positions -- it does not make sense for sportsbooks to include them in the "First Drafted" positional markets.
"Anytime we're looking at prop markets such as these, our goal is to give users more compelling wagering options once prices significantly shorten on the main markets, such as First Overall Pick," ESPN BET director of North American sports trading Adrian Horton said over email. "Our goal is to provide interesting wagering options and by not including those players, these markets become more accessible."
Thus, Hunter and Carter are excluded from the "First [Position] Taken" markets at most sportsbooks, creating a situation where the books don't have to worry about classifying Hunter into one position or another. However, there are other markets where they will have to make that call, and the approach varies from book to book.
For example, ESPN BET, which is offering a "Total Offensive Players Drafted in the 1st Round" market, has said it will grade bets based on the position or positions that Hunter is ultimately listed as on draft night, meaning he could count for both offensive and defensive props; the NFL's official website does list him as both a cornerback and wide receiver. DraftKings, on the other hand, is very clearly stating that Hunter will be counted only as a cornerback for settlement purposes, going as far as listing that information on bet slips.
April 6: Gators fan's parlay ride ends with Duke loss
Doug Greenberg: Perhaps no one has ever been happier to lose a high-stakes bet than Thousand Dolla Bill, the alias for a Florida bettor who ESPN had previously reported owned a five-leg, +3365900 futures parlay that would turn $5 into $168,300 if successful.
Bill needed Duke to win the men's college basketball national championship to cash the final leg of the parlay, so Saturday night's Final Four result, which saw Houston shock the Blue Devils in a comeback upset for the ages, could have been a disaster. However, Bill sold half of the ticket for $20,250 on secondary market service PropSwap just prior to the Elite Eight, making the madness much more palatable for him.
"I got 20k and a heck of a story," he told ESPN over text on Saturday night.
What's more, the die-hard Gators fan -- whose son's middle name, Donovan, is an ode to former Florida head coach Billy Donovan, a recently announced member of the Basketball Hall of Fame's 2025 class -- now gets to enjoy Monday night's championship in peace. He also isn't done betting just yet: He says he has $5,000 on the Gators at +750 from a hedge earlier in the tournament ... and he's already working on more low-stake, high-reward parlays involving Florida winning it all.
Duke's defeat was a massive bracket buster and loss for many public bettors. The Blue Devils were picked as the champion in a leading 25% of ESPN Men's Tournament Challenge brackets, while ESPN BET said Duke was its largest future liability "by a wide margin."
March 31: NCAA tournament favorites' record run lifts betting public
David Purdum: The chalk has walked the walk in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
For the second time in modern Madness history, we have a Final Four consisting of all No. 1 seeds. No Cinderella stories lasted past the second round, and in a tournament revered for its upsets, betting favorites are a win away from their most successful run ever.
Here's a by-the-numbers look at the historic run of chalk in the NCAA tournament:
51: The number of betting favorites that have won during the tournament, tying 2007 for the most since the field expanded in 1985 with three games remaining.
The favorite won all 12 games during the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds. The last underdog to win outright during the tournament was Kentucky (+2.5) over Illinois on Sunday of the opening round.
The run of favorites has taken a toll on sportsbooks.
"We've had a few ugly days," John Murray, vice president of the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said. "Last Sunday was real bad. Thursday and Saturday of this week were no good. It's been too chalky for us to call the tournament a success, but our handle has been very good, and there's some big games left."
13: The number of outright upsets by underdogs during the tournament. The largest upsets have been pulled by 7-point underdogs McNeese State (over Clemson) and Arkansas (over St. John's).
"Money-line favorites have been a killer with no upsets occurring," college basketball trader at Caesars Sportsbook Patrick Berbert said.
41-1: The approximate odds of parlaying the 12 favorites in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds on the money line.
13-1: ESPN BET's pre-tournament odds of all four No. 1 seeds reaching the Final Four. "Favorites hitting at a high clip, with seven of the top eight seeds, including all four 1-seeds making the Elite Eight, has worked out well for bettors," Adrian Horton, director of North American sports trading for ESPN BET, said in an email. "In particular, [money-line] favorites parlays have cashed for many patrons from the first round all the way through this weekend."
$500,000: BetMGM reported taking a $500,000 bet on Duke to win the national championship at +350. The wager -- the largest reported bet on the tournament -- would pay a net $1.75 million.
35-29: Favorites' record against the spread ahead of the Final Four.
29-35: 29 overs and 35 unders.
3: The number of players in the Final Four with their second team: Houston's L.J. Cryer (2021 with Baylor), Florida's Alijah Martin (2023 with Florida Atlantic) and Duke's Mason Gillis (2024 with Purdue).
March 27: Cash out for $50K or let it ride for $168? One fan's dilemma
Doug Greenberg: In May 2024, sports betting social media was ablaze with championship future parlays. The idea is simple: Stitch together multiple championship winner futures, create enormous odds and try to turn a little bit of money into a lot.
From his home in St. Augustine, Florida, Thousand Dolla Bill -- the alias for a "fake rapper that [he] was in college" that he has since turned into a Twitter/X handle and by which he has asked to be referred for this piece -- fired up Hard Rock Bet, the only sports betting app available in the state, and got to work on creating what he calls his own "lottery ticket."
"I saw [a social media post] last year and I was like, 'Oh, I wonder if I can make one of those on Hard Rock.' I had never made that type of bet," he told ESPN. "One of these articles that was written said it's the equivalent of me getting hit by lightning twice, so that's why I only bet $5."
Bill created "five to 10" of these and while most of them ended up not being viable, there was one in which he picked Tennessee to win the College World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the MLB World Series, Ohio State to win the CFP national championship, the Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl and (most critically at this point) the Duke Blue Devils to win the men's college basketball national championship.
The odds on this parlay came out to +3,365,900, which would turn Bill's $5 into $168,300 if successful. It would be Hard Rock's largest parlay odds payout of the year, according to a representative from the sportsbook.
The irony is that Bill, a northern Florida resident, considers himself a "die-hard" Florida Gators fan.
"On May 12th, 2024, as a Gator fan, I didn't even fathom us competing for a title. I was hoping we would make it to March Madness," he said. "And now they have the second-best odds to win and in my opinion, are the biggest obstacle to Duke to win this, which is a conundrum for me."
He says that if he holds on to the ticket and if Duke and Florida were to meet in the national championship, he plans to hedge with a massive wager on the Gators. However, the cash-out for the wager, valued at nearly $50,000 headed into the Sweet 16, looms large.
The cash-out process has been far from simple in this instance. Bill says that headed into March Madness, he wanted to consider the option in case the Blue Devils were to flame out of the tournament early, but says he was not given the option in the Hard Rock app. It ultimately took several emails and social media nagging to get the sportsbook to give him a cash-out offer.
A sportsbook rep told ESPN that the company has changed its systems since the bet was placed almost a year ago, leading to the cash-out not being available in the app. They clarified that Bill has the option to cash out with the current offer by emailing a representative manually up until tipoff of the Duke game Thursday night.
Bill isn't sure what he's going to do, and has been taking input from everyone from his wife and kids, to strangers on the internet who saw his story. Factoring into the decision is the fact that he has another parlay alive that would "soften the blow": He put $6.34 down on Ohio State, the Eagles, Duke and the Oklahoma City Thunder to win their respective championships, which would pay $52,000 if successful.
"I want to guarantee myself something at this point because it'd be really disappointing to walk away with nothing," Bill said. "I feel like the story has a value to it as well, if that makes sense. Me keeping going has a value to it when I tell my grandkids this story.
"It's a strange story. I never thought I'd be here."
Update (3/29): Thousand Dolla Bill did not cash out the wager ahead of Thursday night's win for Duke over Arizona. Before Duke's Elite Eight showdown against Alabama, he sold half of the ticket for $20,250 on secondary market service PropSwap. The price took into account a 24% cut of taxes if the ticket were to cash, PropSwap CEO Luke Pergande told ESPN.
March 26: New York Giants see rush of wagers after Wilson signing
Greenberg: For some bettors, it's never too early to start thinking about the next NFL season, especially as the offseason news cycle continues to churn away.
ESPN BET opened its NFL season win total markets on Tuesday afternoon, and one of the most notable numbers it posted was for the New York Giants at 3.5 wins for the 2025 season. According to ESPN Research, that was the lowest win total since the New York Jets in 2017 (also 3.5) and approached the 30-year low of three wins set by the expansion Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. All three teams cashed their overs in those seasons.
The timing of the odds going live ended up being serendipitous, as just a few hours later veteran quarterback Russell Wilson reportedly signed a one-year deal with the Giants. The sportsbook says it saw a rush of wagers, including all of them on the over at 3.5, prompting the book to increase it to 4.5 on Wednesday morning. Even after the line move, the book says upwards of 90% of the bets and handle are on the over.
The G-Men are tied with the Cleveland Browns for the lowest win total in the league, and even if the line were to move up again to 5.5, it would still be the Giants' lowest win over-under in the last 35 seasons, per ESPN Research.
The only other team to see significant early action and movement is the San Francisco 49ers. They opened at 11.5 wins at ESPN BET but quickly saw all of the action on their under, cueing a line move down to 10.5.
The sportsbook seems to be expecting more from this team regardless. After winning just six games last season, the Niners' +4.5 improvement to their preseason win total is the highest in the NFL as of now, and they are just the third team since 1990 to have a win total of 10 or higher after winning just six games the previous season, according to ESPN Research.