Following Thursday night’s NFL season-opening thriller in Kansas City, sports bettors don’t have to wait until Sunday for more action.
The NFL scheduled an early September Friday night game for the first time in Brazil between the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles that is currently the league’s most-bet game at BetMGM.
And while Ravens-Chiefs saw plenty of action on both sides, Packers-Eagles is getting the opposite effect.
“Another game with a close betting line of Philadelphia -2.5. However, the action is much different,” bet365 trading leader Aron Wattleworth said. “(The Eagles) are seeing approximately 78% of all spread-play tickets, with the line opening at -1.5. Now -2.5, the action is clearly siding with Philadelphia, and likely goes to at least a juiced -2.5 if not light -3 before kickoff on Friday.”
The Eagles are the most-bet NFL team for Week 1 in terms of wagers and handle at BetMGM, and they’re getting 72% of the bets and 77% of the handle.
DraftKings reported similar splits with the Eagles even getting 83% of the money, but ESPN BET had more balance with 59.7% of the wagers and 46.6% of the money on Philadelphia earlier this week.
Let's hope tonight's game is as entertaining as last night's one 🤞 pic.twitter.com/DJrPBaCxx3
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) September 6, 2024
Just win
Bettors are a little more split when it comes to the outright market in Packers vs. Eagles picks. FanDuel has taken 54% of the money on Philadelphia (-142) to win the game while ESPN BET has seen a higher handle of 68% come in on the Eagles.
The Packers only picked up about 30% of the tickets and handle when it comes to the moneyline at DraftKings. BetMGM reported Friday morning that Green Bay is the most-bet underdog of any NFL team in Week 1.
Challenging total
Not much has happened with the point total for this Week 1 Friday night showdown in terms of line movement. An unfamiliar, neutral venue in a different country with challenging logistics and high altitude could be causing no clear-cut over or under.
BetMGM opened the total at 48.5 and its only ticked up a half-point. That’s with 58% of the bets and 53% of the handle coming in on the under.
BetMGM said this game is the most-bet under in terms of tickets of the week so far.
ESPN BET is split down the middle on wagers, but the over is getting a little less than 50% of the money.
Prop markets
New Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is a popular pick in the “Anytime Touchdown Scorer” market. The former New York Giant rusher at -130 is in the top-3 bet count for this game at FanDuel.
Barkley’s also getting the fifth-most bets for all Week 1 player props to go over 64.5 rushing yards (-120) at BetMGM.
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts (+110) and new Packers running back Josh Jacobs (+100) round out the top three bets to score a TD in the game.
Hurts and Green Bay QB Jordan Love are seeing over love for their passing yards props at bet365. Hurts’ total is set at 241.5 while Love needs to go over 256.5 to pay out.
