The first Sunday of 2021 was the Best NFL Sunday of the 2020/2021 football season for bettors. Hopefully this trend will continue this Sunday and throughout 2021 Playoffs …
Favorites won 14 of 16 games as gamblers cashed in on countless money-line parlays and teasers and dealt Las Vegas sportsbooks a rare losing day.
“It was the worst Sunday of the season,” Westgate sportsbook vice president Jay Kornegay said.
“The general public had a heyday. They were cashing all day. The big culprits were parlays and money-line parlays, as every team that needed to win won (Sunday).”
The Raiders handed the Westgate its worst result in the final afternoon game. Derek Carr fired a strike to Darren Waller for a go-ahead 2-point conversion with 24 seconds left to lift Las Vegas to a 32-31 comeback win at Denver.
“The reason why the Raiders game was the worst result of the day was because it was the last game posted,” Kornegay said. “Everything was riding on that game, especially the money-line parlays. We needed the Broncos to hang on there.”
Washington, which closed -6½ after the line opened Philadelphia -1, capped the big day for bettors by beating the Eagles 20-14 on Sunday night.
Las Vegas Raiders (8-8) eclipsed its season win total (7½) and snapped a string of three straight losing seasons. “The Raiders winning at the end was one of the loudest eruptions in the book,” Sunset Station sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said.
Las Vegas (-3) was one of six favorites that won but didn’t cover. But the Raiders flew over the total (50½) for the fifth consecutive game and finished the season tied with Tennessee for the league’s best over-under record at 12-3
