Playoff exits of Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns ruin season-long wagers for many, but sportsbooks rejoice
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Usually, the champagne gets uncorked at the conclusion of the NBA Finals. But when the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks and the returning Western Conference-champion Phoenix Suns both bowed out of the playoffs Sunday, oddsmakers at the nation’s top sportsbooks let the bubbly flow.
The two most popular remaining bettors’ future-book picks are out.
“We were toasting,” said Las Vegas SuperBook vice president Jay Kornegay.
The Bucks, despite a dominant series by star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, lost to the Boston Celtics, 109-81, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
And the Suns also blew a 3-2 series lead, albeit much more graphically, getting trounced 123-90 by the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday at Phoenix’s Footprint Center.
At Tipico Sportsbook, the Suns opened the series as the +220 favorite to win an NBA title after establishing a new franchise record for regular-season victories (64), while the Bucks were the +450 second choice.
In wagers that dated back in some cases to the start of the offseason, the Bucks carried 30% of Tipico’s NBA championship liability, and the Suns represented 9% of the future-book total after another season-long favorite, the Brooklyn Nets, previously lost out.
“The Suns being eliminated was a great result for us from (the) futures standpoint,” said WynnBET spokesman Jake Meister. “They had 19.5% of our tickets and 21.9% of our handle to win the championship.”
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The Celtics now elevate to WynnBET’s biggest liability, with just 8% of the tickets and 7.8% of the future handle bet upon them. At Tipico, the Celtics are a +1.5-point underdog Tuesday when they visit the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Despite the shops’ future-book success, some would like to pursue the equivalent of a series sweep.
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Source : yahoo
