Sports betting roundup: Bettors win big with over bets on NBA Conference Finals

The NBA’s Eastern and Western Conference Finals may soon be over.

As of Monday, the Boston Celtics lead the Indiana Pacers 3-0 in the East, while the Dallas Mavericks also lead the Minnesota Timberwolves 3-0 in the West.

The games have been relatively close: Two of Boston’s three wins have been by five points or less, and two of Dallas’ three wins have been by three points or less.

Luka Doncic leads the Mavericks in scoring, scoring at least 32 points in each game, while Jayson Tatum leads the Celtics, scoring 36 points in two of the three games.

Regardless of when those series end, the NBA Finals will begin on June 6th.

Trending this week It’s not just wins and losses that are one-sided. The over is the same. All six games of the Eastern and Western Conference Finals were won on the over, and the public is using this to their advantage. For example, on Sunday’s Game 3 between the Mavericks and Timberwolves, 84% of bets and 83% of money were wagered on the over at Bet MGM Sportsbook.

Meanwhile, on Sunday’s Stanley Cup playoff game 3 between the Panthers and Rangers, all bettors bet on the under. With a total of 5.5 goals, 77% of the money and 81% of the money was on the under. New York went on to win the game, 5-4, and take a 2-1 series lead.

Josef Newgarden won his second consecutive Indy 500 on Sunday. He was given the shortest odds of any driver to win at +525. Newgarden received the fourth-most tickets (6.9%) but also won the most prize money (11.6%).

Upsets of the week Davis Riley won the Charles Schwab Challenge by five strokes on Sunday. Riley entered the tournament with odds of +25,000 to win and only a 0.2% chance of winning. Prior to this tournament, he had only one top-25 finish this season and had missed the cut seven times in 15 starts. He partnered with Nick Hardy to win the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, marking his second win on the PGA Tour.

After losing Game 1 at home, many bettors expected Minnesota to win Game 2 and cover the spread. After starting as 3.5-point favorites and finishing as 5.5-point favorites, 65% of the bets and 72% of the money went to cover the Timberwolves. Dallas won 109-108.

next time The first tennis Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, has begun.

In the women’s competition, Iga Swiatek, who has won the past two years in a row, entered the tournament as the overwhelming favorite with odds of -155 to win.

At the start of the tournament, she had won the most tickets (28.5%) and the most prize money (75.4%) in the championship market.

On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic made the biggest move in pre-tournament betting with odds of +350 to win. Djokovic attracted the most tickets (12.7%) and won the most prize money (32.4%).

Carlos Alcaraz (+250) had the best odds to win the tournament when it began. ___

This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM.

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AP Sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports