Sportsbooks have to reach certain risk thresholds before the big bosses are brought into the loop. On Sunday at Caesars Sportsbook, those thresholds were met, and the big bosses were alerted to some potential expensive outcomes on the Minnesota Vikings-Buffalo Bills game.
Thanks to some up-and-down point spread movement throughout the week, the Bills winning by four, five or six would’ve caused Caesars-and other sportsbooks–to lose on both sides of a lot of bets.
“The bosses were aware that four, five or six were not pretty,” Craig Mucklow, vice president of trading for Caesars Sportsbook, said.
Those potential outcomes were troubling for the book, because uncertainty about Bills quarterback Josh Allen had caused the point spread to move dramatically throughout the week. The line went from Buffalo -8.5 on Monday to -3 by Saturday morning, as Allen missed the majority of practices leading up to Sunday’s game. The line started to tick back up toward the Bills on Saturday afternoon, after it was reported that Allen would be active and was expected to start. By Sunday morning, the line had grown back to Buffalo -6.5. The roller-coaster ride for bookmakers and bettors wasn’t over yet.
Roughly an hour before kickoff, Allen wasn’t on the field during warmups, and the line dropped back to Bills -5. Allen eventually joined his teammates on the field, and the line shot back up to Buffalo -6.5 by kickoff. “
These things happen all the time,” John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, told ESPN. “[It’s] the battle between the bettors and the book to have the information first. Obviously, when you have a player as great as Josh Allen, it’s that much more important to be on top of the news. But considering what we had to deal with last bowl season between COVID, the transfer portal, and players sitting out for the NFL Draft, this was nothing. And it’s something that happens literally every day during the NBA regular season.”
The pregame drama reminded…
