NFL Betting Roundup: Sportsbooks Rooting for Lions, 49ers in Week 3

LAS VEGAS — It shouldn't be a surprise to see which two games are generating the most public action in Las Vegas in Week 3. And you can probably guess which side recreational players are on in New England (-7) at Detroit and San Francisco (+5.5) at Kansas City.

The Patriots are coming off a loss and are always a public team while the Chiefs' offense is off to a historic start. As of Friday afternoon those two games accounted for 20% of the total tickets written at William Hill.

John Murray, manager of the Westgate SuperBook, says that he's seeing a lot of Patriots money thus far.

"We're definitely seeing the Patriots at -7 getting bet," Murray said. "Bettors are also playing the Patriots in virtually every parlay. We're definitely going to need the Lions in a big way."

Aaron Kessler, sportsbook supervisor at the Golden Nugget, is writing a lot of Patriots tickets as well, but has a feeling things will balance out.

"While most of the money has been on New England, the Lions have the potential to score some points," he explained. "So while you'd think this could be a big liability for us, we're actually expecting to get some Lions money on this one."

William Hill's statistics suggest that Kessler may be waiting a while for that Detroit money to come in. Currently 87% of the money bet on this game is with the Patriots.

As for the 49ers-Chiefs game, sportsbooks were aware that the Kansas City money was coming.

"The money continues to roll in on Kansas City at -6.5 and I honestly don't expect that to change by kickoff," Murray said.

And Kessler had the exact same sentiment as he thinks the Golden Nugget is unlikely to see much 49ers action into Sunday.

William Hill's numbers seem to indicate the same thing. Currently, 87% of the money wagered is going toward the Chiefs.

Murray is also expecting heavy, unbalanced action on Green Bay at -3 at Washington.

While it has yet to be confirmed whether Aaron Rodgers will play in this game, the money continues to flow in at the Westgate on Green Bay.

"I don't expect that to change unless there's a big announcement regarding Rodgers before kickoff," Murray noted.

An interesting imbalance in the wagering at William Hill suggests their bettors aren't yet certain about Rodgers' condition. While 78% of the total number of tickets being bet there are on Green Bay, 55% of the total money wagered is actually going on Washington — not something you see very often.

The most peculiar wager of the week for the Westgate didn't come on a side, but a total.

"We took a very unusual and interesting $40,000 bet on over 48 in the Rams-Chargers game," Murray said. "That player then parlayed the same over with $5,000 parlays on nearly every NFL game on the board. A two-team parlay will pay 5-2 so this player could be looking at an interesting payday come late Sunday night."

We'll have an update Tuesday on how this big player fared.

The Westgate will also have a rooting interest in the Bengals-Panthers (-3) game.

"We took a really sharp bet on over 43 in that game this afternoon from a player I really respect," Murray said. "We had another player bet $25,000 on the Panthers at -3 right when the game opened last Sunday night. So as of now we need the Bengals and under."

That isn't the case at the Golden Nugget.

"We're seeing mostly Cincinnati money come in," Kessler explained. "They're a team no one expected to do much of anything and they've really surprised us so far."

William Hill's numbers are also seeing more interest in Cincinnati as 62% of the money bet is going the Bengals' way.