For many bettors, their Thanksgiving 2023 parlays were ruined before the turkey even hit the table.
Contrary to what the wagering markets were predicting, the underdog Green Bay Packers upset the Detroit Lions by a score of 29-22 in the NFL's opening Thanksgiving Day game on Thursday.
Indeed, the strong play of the Lions this season coupled with the Packers' downturn following the departure of Aaron Rodgers prompted a ton of action on Detroit for the game.
And, for a sizable population of bettors, that Detroit action was likely paired with something else.
"You couldn't have asked for a better result to start the day," said Tom Gable, the director of race and sportsbook for the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, in a text message. "Every teaser and moneyline parlay was pretty much eliminated. There was so much support for Detroit throughout the week, everyone just thought it was a given they could at least win the game."
How many DET, DAL, SF parlays out there?
— Hard Rock Bet (@HardRockBet) November 23, 2023
% of the Money to win today:
Lions 92%
Cowboys 95%
49ers 95%
😬😬😬
At BetMGM, 81% of wagers and 82% of spread money were on the Lions to cover. Detroit closed as favorites of eight-and-a-half points, but bettors also hammered the Lions on the moneyline, with 58% of bets and 85% of the handle on the Motor City squad to win outright at BetMGM.
Meanwhile, DraftKings reported 67% of bets and 69% of the spread money was on Detroit to cover at the online sportsbook. Furthermore, 83% of bets and 86% of the moneyline handle for the game were on the Lions to win outright.
Packers upsetting the Lions would be a good outcome for the sportsbook.
— John Ewing (@johnewing) November 23, 2023
Those moneyline liabilities on a sizable favorite such as Detroit — whose straight-up odds were trading in the -400 range before kickoff — in addition to similar splits for Thursday’s two other games suggested bettors were likely looping the Lions into a lot of teasers and parlays.
"The final result was very, very positive for us," said Jay Kornegay, the vice president of race and sportsbook operations at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas. "We were hoping for a cover but the outright win was icing."
Kornegay added that the Thanksgiving schedule was daunting for bookmakers.
"All three games had at least a -7 point favorite which created lopsided wagering," the SuperBook exec said in an email after the Green Bay victory. "We knew at the beginning of the day we needed an outright win. We’ll take it but a long way to go. Results may vary."
After the first game we’re holding 99.8% on teasers. My first thought was who the hell hit a teaser with that result?
— Chris Andrews (@andrewssports) November 23, 2023
How the rest of Thanksgiving shakes out for bookmakers will indeed hinge on a lot more chalk. BetMGM reported the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers, who were likewise large favorites in their games on Thursday, were drawing 59% and 57%, respectively, of moneyline handle.
DraftKings, meanwhile, said 83% and 92% of moneyline handle was on Dallas and San Francisco in their respective games as of around 2:30 p.m. ET.
“The public is definitely going to be on those three teams,” said Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook, earlier this week. “But as we’ve seen in the NFL anything can happen week-to-week. We’ll need some of the underdogs to bark.”
