Sharp bettors move college football lines at South Point
The 2018 college football season is still a little more than three months away, but sharp bettors wasted no time wagering on Week 1 lines posted Monday at the South Point sports book.
For the first hour after the lines were unveiled, betting was allowed only at the windows at the South Point sports book. Bettors were permitted to make three bets of up to $1,000 each before heading to the back of the line.
Each limit bet of $1,000 moved the line between ½-point and 2 points and when the action settled, there were eight line moves of at least four points.
“Whatever I put up, I think is the right number. But I certainly respect the guys playing us,” Andrews said. “These are all pretty smart guys betting us and I like to see what the sharp guys think. It helps me with my power ratings and with whatever adjustments we make.”
Fading Irish
The biggest line move was on Notre Dame-Michigan. The storied rivalry that ended in 2014 will resume on Sept. 1 at Notre Dame Stadium. The Fighting Irish opened as 7-point favorites before action on the Wolverines moved the number to 1.
Notre Dame went 10-3 last season after finishing 4-8 in 2016. Michigan went 8-5 in Jim Harbaugh’s third year at the school following 10-3 finishes in his first two seasons.
Raising Alabama
Bettors are expecting Alabama to open defense of its national title by blowing out Louisville by four touchdowns Sept. 1 in Orlando.
The Crimson Tide opened as 20-point favorites over the Cardinals but the line quickly shot up to 25.
“I really think that’s more of a knock on Louisville because we all knew Alabama was going to be pretty good,” Andrews said.
Oklahoma-Florida Atlantic
Under coach Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic was a cover machine last season, finishing 10-4 against the spread. But bettors expect Oklahoma to cruise past the Owls on Sept. 1. The Sooners, who will have to replace Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, are 21-point favorites after the line opened at 17.
“I’m OK with that. I think Florida Atlantic is going to be OK,” Andrews said. “There will be a new quarterback, obviously, for Oklahoma and that’s a dog that can easily cover that number.”
Florida State-Virginia Tech
Florida State is a 4-point favorite over Virginia Tech after the line opened at pick’em for the Sept. 3 showdown in Tallahassee, Florida.
“That one really did surprise me,” Andrews said. “Florida State certainly had a pretty bad year last year and has a new coach coming in. I think the Virginia Tech program is back on track and might be in the national title picture.”
Willie Taggart replaces Jimbo Fisher as coach at Florida State, which went 7-6 last season. The Hokies went 9-4 in their second season under coach Justin Fuente.
The South Point will post lines on its college football games of the year at 10 a.m. Thursday and will unveil its season win totals at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Triple threat
Wynn Las Vegas sports book director Johnny Avello opened Justify as the 4-5 favorite to win the Belmont Stakes on June 9.
Justify won the Preakness Stakes on Saturday by a half-length over Bravazo to keep alive his bid to become only the second horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown.
“He won, but the horses were a little closer this time,” Avello said. “We’ll see what that means going forward.”
Will Justify win the Triple Crown? Yes is minus 120 at the Wynn and no is even.
“The wiseguys were betting no to win the Triple Crown before the Preakness and now they’re betting no again going into the Belmont,” Avello said.
Will Justify win the Triple Crown and will the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup? Yes opened at plus 550 at the Wynn before the Preakness but was adjusted Monday to plus 270. No was minus 330.
Big bettor backs Warriors
A William Hill sports book bettor placed a $475,000 futures wager on Golden State at minus 190 on May 9 that will pay $250,000 if the Warriors win the NBA title.
More betting: Follow all of our sports betting coverage online at reviewjournal.com/betting and @RJ_Sports on Twitter.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
