Everything that happens in sports has additional context when viewed from a betting perspective. From season-changing injuries to record-setting moments and so much more, the news cycle will constantly and significantly affect the sports betting industry.
Our betting buzz file, with contributions from David Purdum, Doug Greenberg and others, aims to provide fans a look at the sports betting stories that are driving the conversation.
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May 30: Analysis finds dip in amount bet on hoops this season
David Purdum: The amount bet on basketball -- both college and professional -- dropped an estimated 10% this season compared with last season, according to an analysis by gambling research firm Eilers & Krejcik.
College basketball accounted for the bulk of the decrease, the firm found, but the NBA was not immune. During the first four months of 2025, betting handle on the NBA dropped 5.5% year-over-year, while sportsbook revenue from NBA bets increased 14%, according to the analysis.
Eilers & Krejcik analyzed state revenue reports and reviewed public statements from sportsbook operators in its analysis released this week. It reasoned that the drop in basketball handle stemmed from a decrease in the amount of promotional offers from sportsbooks as well as bettors shifting to "higher margin, lower stake products like [same game parlays]."
Flutter, the parent company of FanDuel, acknowledged "softer" basketball handle during the start of 2025.
"We attribute that to some factors that we've seen in basketball in the quarter, including some less competitive matchups over the course of the regular season that results in larger spreads when it comes to the betting and consequently has a better impact in terms of what we see," Flutter CFO Rob Coldrake said during a May earnings call.
"It's also worth mentioning that the playoffs have got off to a good start," Coldrake added. "There seems to be really good engagement around the players."
Sportsbook BetMGM this week released data on the most popular NBA teams and players with bettors this season. Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic attracted more bets than any other player, while the Los Angeles Lakers were the most popular team to bet with BetMGM customers.
May 27: Collier WNBA MVP favorite following Caitlin Clark injury
Doug Greenberg: Given her immense popularity and electrifying WNBA rookie season in 2024, it came as little surprise that Caitlin Clark was a leading candidate for league MVP heading into her second campaign, with her odds to win the award bolstered by a plethora of public action.
However, those MVP hopes took a disappointing turn Monday when the Indiana Fever announced that Clark would miss at least two weeks because of a left quad strain, marking the first regular-season games she'll miss in either her college or professional career. The resulting betting line movement and bettor action was swift.
Just before the announcement, Clark was the -115 favorite to take home the 2025 MVP award, but those odds lengthened to +165 in the immediate aftermath of her injury. By Monday afternoon she was +210, and by Tuesday morning she was +220, according to ESPN BET.
Taking her place at the top of the odds board was Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, who has gotten off to a white-hot start this season, averaging a league-leading 29.5 points per game as the follow-up to a 2024 campaign that saw her honored as Defensive Player of the Year. Collier was +185 to win MVP in 2025 before Clark's injury but immediately jumped to -105 following the announcement of Clark's impending absence and was -170 by Tuesday morning.
Collier's odds dominance is also a response to overwhelming action backing her. Multiple major sportsbooks report her attracting the most money in the MVP market since the Clark injury news broke, with ESPN BET and DraftKings saying Collier has received upward of 83% of the handle over that time.
While some bettors are using the opportunity to buy back plus-odds on Clark, many more are exploring other names. Three-time and reigning MVP A'ja Wilson (+900 at ESPN BET) has been a popular selection, with the Las Vegas Aces superstar tying Collier for the most bets taken at FanDuel since Clark's injury.
ESPN BET also reports that Kelsey Plum (+6000), averaging 24.8 PPG in her first season with the Los Angeles Sparks, has taken 16.8% of the wagers since Monday afternoon, trailing only Collier and Wilson.
As for WNBA title odds, the action has been significant. ESPN BET and BetMGM both report a majority of bet slips backing the New York Liberty (favorites at +185) to win it all since Clark's injury announcement, while FanDuel, which moved Indiana from +370 to +430, still reports the Fever as its most-backed team over that time period.
May 26: Arkansas consensus College World Series favorite
David Purdum: Arkansas is the betting favorite ahead of several SEC teams that sit atop the odds to win the College World Series at sportsbooks.
The Razorbacks were the favorites 9-2 at ESPN BET on Monday after the CWS bracket was announced, followed by LSU (6-1) and Tennessee (8-1). Seven of the top eight teams on the board at ESPN BET hail from the SEC. North Carolina (9-1) of the ACC is the only non-SEC team with odds shorter than 10-1.
Vanderbilt, winners of the SEC tournament and No. 1 overall seed in the CWS, is 10-1 along with Georgia. The SEC accounted for eight of the top 16 seeds in the CWS.
Arkansas began the year around 14-1 to win the CWS but emerged as the consensus favorite midway through the regular season at some sportsbooks. The Razorbacks went 20-10 in the rugged SEC and were 31-5 at home this season. They'll open against North Dakota State in the Fayetteville regional.
The opening rounds begin Friday.
May 22: Knicks' Madison Square meltdown by the betting numbers
David Purdum: NBA teams leading by nine-plus points in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime had won 1,414 consecutive playoff games since 1998, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. That streak ended Wednesday with a meltdown at Madison Square Garden for the ages.
The New York Knicks led the Indiana Pacers by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. They were up 14 with 2:45 to play and appeared to be in cruise control after a Jalen Brunson bucket gave put them ahead 121-112 with 58.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And they blew it.
Tyrese Haliburton hit a long 2-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer, and the Pacers pulled out a stunning 138-135 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
Jay Williams joins "Get Up" and explains why the Knicks' loss to the Pacers is statistically the biggest choke job in NBA playoff history.
Here's a look at the betting numbers from a wild Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden:
25-1: The Pacers' odds to win the game peaked at 25-1 at ESPN BET, when they were down 108-94 with 2:45 to play in the fourth quarter. At the same time, the Knicks were massive -20000 favorites to prevail.
50.2%: The percentage of overall money bet during the game that was on the Pacers at ESPN BET.
+125: The Pacers' odds to win the series before Game 1. The Knicks were -150.
-165: The Pacers' odds to win the series after Game 1. The Knicks are +140.
-5.5: The Knicks are favored by 5.5 in Game 2, with the total at 227.5, tied for the highest of any conference finals game in the last 35 seasons (Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets Game 4 of the 2018 Western Conference finals).
For more:
May 19: Betting buzz: NHL conference finals historically tight
Doug Greenberg: The NHL's playoff tournament has reached its final four, and the chances to win the league's championship are as close to a tossup as bookmakers could make them at this stage.
The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers are +250 cofavorites to hoist the Stanley Cup, followed closely by the Dallas Stars at +275 and Carolina Hurricanes at +325, according to ESPN BET odds.
Should those odds hold, Edmonton and Florida's +250 would be the longest favorite odds heading into the conference finals for any team since at least the 2007 playoffs, per data from SportsOddsHistory.com. ESPN Research notes that the Panthers were +270 Cup favorites two days before last season's Eastern Conference finals, but moved to +225 just prior to Game 1.
The series prices also indicate elevated parity. Florida is a -130 favorite over Carolina in the East, while Edmonton is a -120 favorite over Dallas in the West, which would be the first time since 2010 that both conference finals went off with the favorites at -130 odds or shorter. In early action at ESPN BET, the favorite Panthers have taken 64.8% of bets and 53.8% of handle for the ECF, while the underdog Stars have garnered 52.6% of wagers and 68.6% of money for the WCF.
Either way, the sportsbooks will be in pretty good shape for the futures market, given many of the public's favorite plays are eliminated. Ahead of the second round, ESPN BET reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche had attracted the most and third-most money, respectively, to win the Stanley Cup. BetMGM notes that the Maple Leafs, Avalanche and Washington Capitals were responsible for the sportsbook's highest ticket share, and were its largest liabilities.
May 15: Cowboys-Eagles leads early rush of NFL Week 1 betting
Doug Greenberg: With the NFL schedule fully released, bettors are already flocking to sportsbooks to place their wagers on the 2025 slate.
No surprise, the most popular contest out of the gate is the opening night matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, which has attracted the most handle at ESPN BET, DraftKings and FanDuel.
After the game was announced on Monday, ESPN BET opened the contest at Eagles -7 (-105), which is where it remains as of Thursday afternoon. DraftKings reports the Eagles as its most backed team by bets, and its second-most backed team by money since the schedule release.
All three sportsbooks report the Week 1 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots as a popular matchup, but possibly for different reasons based on varied opening lines. ESPN BET opened the contest at Patriots -2, but that line quickly moved up to -3. DraftKings, on the other hand, opened with Pats -3.5 (+100) and has conversely seen significant action on Raiders +3.5 (-120), its third-most backed wager by handle since the schedule release. FanDuel shows New England -2.5 (-122) as of Thursday afternoon.
Another popular game with all three books is the Monday Night Football season premiere between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears, with the latter favored by one-point at ESPN BET; DraftKings shows Bears -1.5, while FanDuel has Vikings -1.5.
One game that is not as popular among bettors is the Week 1 showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets, possibly owing to the uncertainty surrounding the status of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. It's unclear whether all books are taking this into account with the line (Steelers -2.5 or -3, depending on the book), but DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello says that his book's line does have that baked in.
Outside of Week 1, ESPN BET reports that the international games between the Atlanta Falcons and Indianapolis Colts (Nov. 9 in Germany), Vikings and Cleveland Browns (Oct. 5 in London) and Los Angeles Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars (Oct. 19 in London) are also receiving significant action.
Stephen A. Smith explains why he doesn't like the Eagles hosting the Cowboys in the 2025 NFL season opener.
May 13: Knicks go from underdogs to favorites in East
David Purdum: The New York Knicks went from the biggest underdogs on the board to the favorites to win the Eastern Conference overnight Monday, after sportsbooks adjusted their odds to reflect the lower leg injury suffered by Boston Celtics' star Jayson Tatum and the Knicks' 3-1 series lead.
On Tuesday, the Knicks emerged as the Eastern Conference favorites at +120 after coming from behind to beat the Celtics in Game 4. Boston, an odds-on favorite to win the conference just a day ago, now has the longest odds (+850) of any of the four teams remaining in the East.
Tatum had to be carried off the floor late in the fourth quarter of Monday's game after suffering the injury. He was headed for an MRI, and no official word had been released on his status as of Tuesday morning.
Down three games to one, Boston is a 4-1 underdog to rally to beat the Knicks in the series. Yet, the Celtics were installed as 4.5-point favorites in Wednesday's Game 5 in Boston. The line reflects the uncertainty of Tatum's status and is approximately four to five points lower than point spreads for Games 1 and 2 in Boston, Adrian Horton, director of trading for ESPN BET, said.
"If [Tatum] were fully healthy, we'd expect a spread -8.5, maybe even -9.5 for Boston going back home in Game 5," Horton added.
Jeff Sherman, veteran NBA oddsmakers for the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, said Tatum is worth approximately 2.5 points to the spread, considering the depth that Boston has.
"The next game is adjusted more than that with the emotional aspect Boston has to overcome losing [Tatum]," Sherman said. "The series price, conference and title odds reflect these adjustments."
Boston was a 25-1 underdog to win the Finals on Tuesday at ESPN BET.
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May 8: Bettors sticking with Celtics over Knicks
David Purdum: The Boston Celtics have gone from massive favorites to practically coin flips to beat the New York Knicks in their Eastern Conference semifinal after squandering 20-point leads in back-to-back losses at home.
Prices on the winner of the series varied Thursday at sportsbooks but were tight around the betting market. DraftKings kept the Celtics as the favorites, while FanDuel and Caesars Sportsbook nudged the Knicks into that role. At ESPN BET and BetMGM, the Celtics were -110 to win the series, and so were the Knicks.
The Celtics were massive favorites entering the series, upwards of -900 at some sportsbooks, but now find themselves in a 2-0 hole heading to New York. At ESPN BET, approximately 94% of the money bet on the winner of the series was on the Celtics. Excluding the 2020 Bubble, this is the 32nd instance of a team trailing 2-0 in a best-of-7 series with both losses at home. Only five of the previous 31 came back to win the series, according to ESPN Research.
The betting public still believes in Boston, though. Approximately 75% of bets, and 70% of the money bet, on the series winner were on the Celtics at ESPN BET. Boston remains the betting favorite to win the Eastern Conference and has the second-best odds behind the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Finals.
The Knicks are 10-1 long shots to win the NBA title, but they're accustomed to overcoming long odds. Their live odds peaked at 25-1 in both Game 1 and Game 2, and their win probabilities bottomed out at less than 2%, according to ESPN Analytics. Yet they rallied and became the first team to overcome 20-point deficits to win consecutive playoff games this century.
The Celtics opened as 5.5-point road favorites over the Knicks in Saturday's Game 3 at Madison Square Garden. They're the biggest road favorites for a team trailing 2-0 in a series since 1993. At ESPN BET, 93.6% of the early money on the winner of Saturday's game was on the Celtics.