There are always amazing moments in sports betting every year, but 2022 seemed to have even more that stood out. With sports betting legal in the U.S. for over four years now and over 30 states with legalized sports betting, it’s amazing how often sports betting moments and bad beats are mentioned on social media and on-air broadcasts.
Here are five of the most memorable ones from a year that sports bettors won’t soon forget:
Event: Chargers-Raiders Week 18 game nearly ends in a tie
The last week of the 2021-22 NFL regular season nearly provided one of the all-time historic sports betting moments.
Heading into Week 18, if the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts (+14.5) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (+3) defeated the Baltimore Ravens, the Chargers and Raiders could both reach the postseason with a tie. Many bettors wagered a two-team (or more) parlay with the Jacksonville Jaguars to beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Chargers-Raiders to end in a tie, putting sportsbooks into seven-figure liabilities.
The Jaguars pulled off the upset over the Carson Wentz-led Colts and the Steelers defeated the Ravens in overtime, setting the stage for a potential catastrophe for sportsbooks. The Chargers entered the game as a 3-point road favorite. Bettors parlayed the Jaguars and/or Steelers winning with many different variations of Chargers-Raiders ending in a tie.
When the Chargers-Raiders game miraculously went to OT tied at 32 after the Chargers came back from down 15 points in the fourth quarter, bettors were starting to count their money and books were sweating. But a poorly timed Brandon Staley timeout led to a 47-yard FG attempt from Daniel Carlson and the Raiders won 35-32, averting disaster for books.
It's only fitting that the game was played in Las Vegas.
Event: Tom Brady unretires
Date: Sunday, March 13
After an unparalleled career and second-round playoff exit, Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL on Jan. 29. The first rumblings that he may have been coming back came in the betting market.
On March 10, one bettor unfamiliar to longtime oddsmaker Chris Andrews came into the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and wanted to place a wager on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl. With Brady retired and the Bucs at 50-1 odds (and higher at other books), Andrews was happy to take a “big bet.”
A few hours later, the same bettor returned to place a small wager on the Bucs, this time at 25-1. Later in the day, the bettor returned to place another large wager on Tampa Bay at 25-1. After that wager, Andrews moved the odds all the way down to 15-1.
“At this point, I'm thinking, 'This is kind of interesting,'” Andrews told VSiN back in March.
One bettor at The Borgata in New Jersey wagered $10,000 on the Bucs to win the Super Bowl the previous week as well.
Three days later, Brady announced he was unretiring and Tampa Bay’s Super Bowl odds dropped from 25-1 to +750 at DraftKings.
Through Week 14, the Bucs lead the NFC South with a 6-7 record, and even though they have 30-1 odds to win the Super Bowl, bookmakers are sleeping easy.