What is the bottom for U.S. President Donald Trump? Everytime we take a look at his election odds, we just assume he’s hit bottom, partly because he’s always hitting bottom, but also because his solid base of support has been so stable for 4 years. With updated odds from Bodog, that based may finally be slipping away.
When we last looked the election odds, Trump had slid to +150 in the sports book, with former Vice President 1Biden reaching a new high of -180. That shift was largely driven by a flailing Wall Street, thanks to a totally Trump-fumbled stimulus opportunity. But as had been predicted by Bodog representatives when he contracted Covid-19, he would eventually see a bounce of sympathy. Maybe recovering from the virus was all he needed to wait for.
Nope.
Trump has now hit a new low of +170, with Biden climbing to -200. With 22 days until the election is over, Biden’s lead has grown to the point that he’s a heavy favorite to win, and Trump a huge underdog.
Depending on which side of the ballpark you sit, there’s good news and bad news for MLB fans. The MLB postseason has already found a couple of teams that will advance to conference finals, and one of them is a team many baseball fans would have preferred to see come unglued this year. However, there’s no turning back now, and those who oppose cheating in sports will just have to hope that the team doesn’t advance past the Atlantic League Championship Series (ALCS).
The Houston Astros took the Oakland A’s in the Atlantic League Division Series 3-1, advancing to the ALCS competition. Baseball fans have no problem recalling the scandal that emerged last season after the Astros were found to have been cheating to gain an edge. Some felt the franchise got off light and wasn’t punished severely enough for its actions, which is part of the reason players on other teams may have decided to take measures into their own hands this season. Given the fact that the Astros finished the regular season with a losing 29-31 record, their appearance in two consecutive postseason competitions doesn’t seem justified.
Who the Astros meet in the ALCS still hasn’t been decided, but oddsmakers know who they expect to win. The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees are tied at two games apiece after the Yankees added their second victory yesterday, and the winner will be decided in Game 5 today. The Yankees are the favorite to win, getting around -150 at most sportsbooks. The Rays have +130.
On the other side of MLB is the National League Division Series, which is completely wrapped up. Although the San Diego Padres put up a valiant effort to get as far as they did this year, they ultimately were swept by the heavily-favored LA Dodgers. The last time the Padres won a division title was in 2006, and they haven’t picked up a league pennant since 1998. Many thought that this might be their year, but a powerful Dodger lineup proved to be a little too much.
If you’re familiar with Batman and Robin, you’d know that Robin’s job is to hand Batman the shark repellent spray. The golden rule of the dynamic duo is that Dick Grayson can never outdo Bruce Wayne, so it’s unthinkable that Anthony Davis can outshine LeBron James and claim the NBA Finals MVP in the process.
LeBron has had a relatively subdued series, compared with the exploits of AD and Jimmy Butler dragging the Heat to their only win of the series in Game 3.
LeBron scored 28-points in Game 4 with 12 rebounds and eight assists but it was the image Davis landing a 3-pointer down the stretch to seal the win that remains the defining moment. Davis had 22-points and nine rebounds and remains the Lakers most potent weapon at both ends of the court.
For the Heat to force a Game 6 they need someone to go the distance with Butler on offence. Tyler Hero has made an impact for the Heat, with 21-points in Game 4 but the rookie will be counting on some help from the more experienced players in the Heat line-up.
For the past two seasons, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been virtually flawless. Wrapping up last season’s title with a handful of games to spare, the Merseyside men had time to be beaten 5-0 by Manchester City and care not one bit.
This season, however, they have been well beaten with just four game of the season having taken place and have shipped an incredible 11 goals in those four games.
Are the wheels coming off the Liverpool bandwagon, or can Jurgen Klopp keep his all-conquering side on the straight and narrow, leading to their dominance of the division?
To find out, we spoke again to a professional football coach in English football, who will remain anonymous. He’s worked with some of the biggest names in the game, going through the coaching process, and is currently part of the team at an English league side… and that’s all we’re telling you. He’ll be honest each week about what he sees as he sees it. As ever, The Secret Coach pulls no punches!
Another Saturday and another UFC Fight Night card from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, with it headlined this week by a bantamweight non-title bout between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen. The main card will start at 8 p.m. ET in the United States (4 a.m. in Abu Dhabi) and is available on ESPN+.
The 32-year-old Moraes, from Brazil, is 23-6-1 and the top-ranked contender in the division (Petr Yan is the champion). He is a former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion who actually never lost the belt in the Octagon. His last title defense was a victory by technical knockout over Josenaldo, but then Moraes vacated the belt by essentially hitting free agency. The UFC signed him not long after.
“Magic” has two losses in the UFC: His debut in June 2017 to Raphael Assuncao by split decision and then in a bantamweight title fight at UFC 238 to Henry Cejudo via third-round TKO (punches). Moraes bounced back from that with a split decision win over Jose Aldo in December 2019. Moraes has won 43 percent of his fights by KO/TKO, 30 percent by decision and 26 percent by submission. He is a +110 underdog for Saturday.
Another Saturday and another UFC Fight Night card from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, with it headlined this week by a bantamweight non-title bout between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen. The main card will start at 8 p.m. ET in the United States (4 a.m. in Abu Dhabi) and is available on ESPN+.
The 32-year-old Moraes, from Brazil, is 23-6-1 and the top-ranked contender in the division (Petr Yan is the champion). He is a former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion who actually never lost the belt in the Octagon. His last title defense was a victory by technical knockout over Josenaldo, but then Moraes vacated the belt by essentially hitting free agency. The UFC signed him not long after.
“Magic” has two losses in the UFC: His debut in June 2017 to Raphael Assuncao by split decision and then in a bantamweight title fight at UFC 238 to Henry Cejudo via third-round TKO (punches). Moraes bounced back from that with a split decision win over Jose Aldo in December 2019. Moraes has won 43 percent of his fights by KO/TKO, 30 percent by decision and 26 percent by submission. He is a +110 underdog for Saturday.
Launching a massive casino project is a gamble. There’s no guarantee that the investment will pay off, and many multimillion-dollar projects have failed to reach their expected goals. However, those who are willing to take the risk will often be willing to make huge bets elsewhere, as well. This is true of Derek Stevens, the casino mogul behind the D Las Vegas, Golden Gate and the upcoming Circa Casino, who placed two bets on MLB action that, unfortunately for his wallet, have virtually no chance of holding up. The odds of a million-dollar payout are now out the window.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Stevens took a calculated risk on the Miami Marlins to win the National League (NL), as well as the World Series. The Marlins looked good heading into the postseason, taking the NL wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs to advance against the Atlanta Braves. However, things aren’t exactly going as planned for the team in the NL race, and the Marlins are now down 0-2 in the best-of-five series. One more loss, and it’s over for a shot at the NL pennant, which would automatically eliminate the team from a World Series run.
Stevens reportedly put up $5,000 for the Marlins to take the NL at odds of 200-1, and $2,500 against 400-1 for the team to take the World Series. He placed his bets with Westgate, saying afterwards, “Game 7 of the World Series is Oct. 28 and that’s the day Circa opens. I can maybe cash something out over here, and help pay for the new joint.” Stevens will now have to look for another option to cover that expense.
Stevens also put up a couple of bets on the Detroit Tigers, which didn’t come through, either. Jay Kornegay, Westgate’s VP of Sportsbook, said later, “Derek and I talked about it and we know he’s a big Tigers fan. He took a shot with the Marlins because he knew they were an up-and-coming young team with solid young pitchers.”
While the rest of Week 5 action may be uncertain due to the return of COVID-19, tonight’s Thursday Night Football (TNF) for the NFL will move forward as planned. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears will meet on the gridiron, pitting two 3-1 teams against each other in a battle between the North and South. The Bucs may be the favorite heading into the game, but the Bears certainly can’t be ignored.
In Tampa Bay’s last game, against the LA Chargers, quarterback Tom Brady and the rest of the team found themselves in a hole that appeared to signal the end of the game. However, the 20-year veteran showed why he’s the NFL GOAT and rallied the team from as far down as 17 points to take the win, 38-31. Brady is unquestionably MVP material, throwing five touchdown passes, each to a different receiver. That flexibility makes it difficult for a defense to maintain adequate coverage on key plays.
That doesn’t mean the Bears are looking at a superior team, though. Although it was prior to the entrance of Brady, Chicago has beaten Tampa Bay six out of their last nine meetings. These two teams haven’t played each other since 2018, but the Bears defense is proving itself time and again this season. Despite ultimately losing last week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, the defense forced the Colts to kick field goals on four drives in the red zone. The Bears are allowing offenses to score a touchdown on 37.5% of red zone drives, the strongest performance for the NFL this season.
The Bears also saw a spectacular performance out of wide receiver Allen Robinson last week and the week before. He logged over 100 receiving yards in each of the two games, a feat not seen on the team since 2015. As long as he and quarterback Nick Foles continue to connect like that, Chicago has a good shot of making this a battle to the bitter end.
The French Open has been tarnished by allegations of match-fixing as authorities launch an investigation into suspicious betting activity involving a women’s doubles match.
Sports books reported a high amount of unusual betting activity in the first-round match involving Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig (Romania) against Madison Brengle (U.S.A.) and Yana Sizikova (Russia). French prosecutors have promised a full investigation into the allegations, believing that there’s merit in the case of ‘fraud in an organised group’ and ‘active and passive corruption.’
The individual players involved in the doubles match are not the focus of the inquiry as French prosecutors have probing gang activity over the suspicious betting patterns.
I was told by several sources that many bookmakers issued alerts for abnormal betting in Sizikova/Brengle match at Roland Garros, Set 2 Game 5, Sizikova on serve to get broken. She got broken to love. This is the video of the game (thanks to @UnArdeal for finding the video). pic.twitter.com/OPSO6hBjJj
There was one NFL game postponed and one pushed back a day in Week 4 due to positive COVID-19 tests on the New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans, and there have been additional positives this week on both teams, meaning Sunday’s Broncos-Patriots and Bills-Titans games are in jeopardy. The NFL has reportedly discussed adding a Week 18 to the regular season to accommodate postponed games and eliminating the bye between the conference title games and Super Bowl 55.
Frankly, there are no Week 5 games that scream “marquee matchup” if Bills-Titans is off, as they are both unbeaten division leaders.
The Cincinnati Bengals visit the Baltimore Ravens at 1 p.m. ET in the first-ever matchup between Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Ravens counterpart Lamar Jackson – both former Heisman winners. That could be one of the AFC’s best individual rivalries going forward. Burrow has become the first rookie QB to throw for at least 300 yards in three straight games. Baltimore is -13 but 1-4 ATS in the past five in this series.
The careers of Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani aren’t just similar, they seem to run on parallel lines, appropriately enough given the duo have scored a collective 109 International goal in 229 appearances between them for their native Uruguay.
With both men on the move during the recent transfer window, we thought we’d take a look at their careers so far as the pair of 33-year-olds look to make one last major impression on the sport of football they’ve given so much to.
The Early Years (2001-2006)
“There was only one player I looked up to, and that was Batistuta, the Argentina No. 9.”
The Esports industry has gone from strength to strength in 2020, proving as resilient as it is adventurous, and as financially stable as anything with regular and new fans watching, betting on and taking part in many tournaments from home during the recent pandemic.
One company who are set to launch in the esports industry are Espo, an esports community who offer unique Fan Perks for esports fanatics who want to get closer to their heroes, whether it’s their favourite teams or the players they love to watch play the game they love most.
We spoke to Henry James, founder and CEO of Espo ahead of the site launch later this month.
“We’re just finalising the details with existing team partners, who are each going to be running a campaign on the platform from launch,” he told us. “We’re working with them to finalise exactly what kind of Fan Perks they’re going to provide to users of our platform. Once we’ve got those details ratified, we hope to be able to start promoting those campaigns and solidify a launch date.”
New York (October 6, 2020): Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative league in the world, today announced the signing of eight elite MMA fighters. Global stars from the USA, Europe, South America, and Asia, will add even more depth and international flavor to an already talent-rich PFL roster. The 2021 PFL season will begin in April, with events broadcast live on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ in the United States, and premium sports networks in 160 countries around the world.
Ready to showcase their skills in the PFL’s upcoming 2021 season will be Cezar Ferreira, Renan Ferreira, and Sheymon Moraes of Brazil, Joilton Lutterbach and Hatef Moeil of Germany, Marthin Hamlet of Norway, Sung Bin Jo of South Korea, and Brandon Sayles of the United States of America.
“We are extremely excited to welcome a diverse group of world-class talent to the Professional Fighters League as part of the 2021 roster,” said Ray Sefo, President of the PFL. “The addition of elite competitors from countries such as Brazil, Norway, South Korea and Germany is representative of PFL’s global reach. We look forward to seeing what these fighters can do on the biggest stage, as they look to advance through a Regular Season, Playoffs and Championship and earn a title and million-dollar prize.”
The current NBA season is close to setting a record for the longest one ever – in a way. The 2019-20 season began just a little less than a year ago, and here we are, still waiting to find out who will be the 2020 champs. After the LA Lakers got off to a 2-0 start against the Miami Heat, it almost seemed like LeBron James, Anthony Davis and friends would sweep the best-of-seven NBA Finals. However, the Heat had a surprise waiting in Game 3 and managed to stay alive, despite dealing with injuries to key starters. That game saw LeBron be subdued for much of the 48 minutes of game time, but he made up for it last night. In a tight battle that saw the lead change several times, the King James and the rest of the Lakers pulled off a victory that puts them just one game away from a championship title.
The Heat’s victory in Game 3 came from an outstanding performance by Jimmy Butler, who racked up 40 points and 13 assists. The Lakers knew that stopping him in Game 4 would be key to a win, and James and Davis played tag-team basketball on him, guarding him for most of the night. As a result, Butler was only able to bucket 22 points. However, that concentration on the Heat’s key playmaker cost LeBron some valuable time in the first half.
The Lakers racked up 10 turnovers in the first half, of which six were committed by LeBron. Between him and Davis, they only gave their team 16 points in the half, allowing the Heat to take the lead, 52-49 heading into the break. Coming out of the lockers for the second half, however, found a reinvigorated Lakers team.
The Heat were able to keep their lead as the action resumed, but only for about a minute. LeBron put up a three-pointer to push the Lakers into the lead, and it was almost as if a new LA team was on the court. The second-half battle was relentless on both sides of the ball and it would have been impossible to call a winner until the very last buzzer. A relative unknown, Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope put up 15 points to give the Lakers a 95-88 lead with just two minutes remaining, followed by a shot from beyond the paint by the Heat’s Jae Crowder to make it a two-bucket game. That didn’t last long, though, and the Lakers added more pressure to move ahead by nine with just 39 seconds remaining.
Global stars ready to showcase their talents in the fastest growing
sports league in the world.
NEW YORK (October 6, 2020): Professional Fighters League (PFL), the fastest growing and most innovative league in the world, today announced the signing of eight elite MMA fighters. Global stars from the U.S.A., Europe, South America, and Asia, will add even more depth and international flavor to an already talent-rich PFL roster. The 2021 PFL season will begin in April, with events broadcast live on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ in the United States, and premium sports networks in 160 countries around the world.
The latest gameweek produced plenty of entertaining games in the NFL, but perhaps the most surprising result of them all was the Eagles’ victory over many people’s pick for the Vince Lombardi trophy, the San Francisco 49ers.
The game itself was a topsy-turvy one, and not one that was finished until the 4th quarter as the Eagles came back to win in Philadelphia late on.
Having edged the first quarter, a scoreless second was followed by the 49ers, currently 30/1 for the 55th annual Super Bowl going into the final quarter 14/11 up. That was flipped on its head in the final quarter, however, as the Eagles scored 14 points to just six from their more decorated opponents.
A new rating system of gaming accessibility for each US state based on the regulated gambling options available to consumers called Wedge Index has been launched.
The Wedge Index was featured on ESPN.com/chalk and is set to become the standard ratings index for sports bettors/ gamblers in the country.
The Wedge Index will be used to keep a running score of the changes affecting every state across the US when it comes to gaming.
The Index is easily accessible for news and media outlets to use as a free resource when talking about the burgeoning progress of state-by-state sports-betting and online gaming.
The Wedge Index score is calculated according to a large number of criteria including whether a state has land-based casinos, sports-betting, online gaming and other factors such as the number and quality of brands operational in the state.
“We think this adds some further context to the ongoing debates in the US around sports-betting and online gaming,” says Wedge Index founder David Copeland.
“By according scores for each factor that makes up the Index, we can make a good approximation of the relative gaming friendliness of each state and also look at how forthcoming changes will affect that.”
As it stands, New Jersey tops the Wedge Index list with a current score of 116 followed by Pennsylvania and Colorado.
The Wedge Index top 10 gaming accessible states and points totals at launch
New Jersey – 116 points
Pennsylvania – 86 points
Colorado – 67 points
Indiana – 64 points
West Virginia – 60 points
Illinois – 55 points
Nevada – 41 points
Oregon – 39 points
Iowa – 35 points
New Hampshire – 34 points
“New Jersey is number one for a reason,” says Copeland. “As well as being the first to market with sports-betting and also with online casino, it has blazed a trail which other states are now following.”
“This is such a fast-moving space that there are pieces of news which could potentially affect the Wedge Index every day,” he said. “We’re delighted to be giving journalists access to a free resource which they can use to give some background to their stories about the progress of US sports-betting and gaming in their state.”
If you’ve ever gone to the shops on Christmas Eve on a do-or-die mission to bring back Brussels Sprouts only to find an empty green crate where the miniature cabbages once lived, you’ll know what it’s like, on a slightly smaller scale admittedly, to live the life of Ed Woodward during a transfer window.
For the Manchester United Chief Executive, the agony of a badly-timed transfer window is over, and to United fans’ relief, players have been signed. Good players, too, and potentially great players. But, after a summer linking United to Jadon Sancho of Borussia Dortmund, it still feels to many like a disappointment instead of a positive.
The set-up didn’t help, of course. Two home defeats (a 1-3 reverse to Crystal Palace before a 6-1 mauling at the hands of former manager Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur) had created a negative atmosphere around the club, coming just weeks after indiscretions by captain Harry Maguire and Mason Greenwood cast a shadow over the side who surged to 3rd place in last season’s Premier League.
Things change so quickly in football that there is no sport like it. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was 33/1 to be the first Premier League manager to leave his job at the start of the season, but the Norwegian is now a 2/1 shot few see the value in missing out on.
Reports last week that several players and staff members tied to the Tennessee Titans threatened to upend the NFL’s Week 4 schedule. When it was later reported that New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton and New Orleans Saints running back Michael Burton had also tested positive, things went from bad to worse. Fortunately for the Saints and Burton, the test was a false-positive, but not so for Newton. The result was an altered playbook for Week 4 that forces two games, not just one, to be played today. For the rest of the Sunday schedule, things moved forward as expected, but not necessarily as planned.
The San Francisco 49ers were the clear favorite heading into their game against the Philadelphia Eagles, despite having much of the first-string line banged up. They were getting -334 before the game, but the Eagles decided to give their fans a huge win and upset the odds. QB Carson Wentz was held to just 193 yards; however, he still managed to pick up two touchdowns on the way to a 25-20 win. The Eagles are now in first place in the NFC East after yesterday’s upset.
The Denver Broncos brought in an up-and-coming QB to start the game against the New York Jets and Denver hopes he improves as the season progresses. Brett Rypien threw three interceptions in the game, but the Broncos still managed to take the win, 37-28. The Jets were sloppy, but so were the Broncos. It turned into a game of who could be more undisciplined, and the Jets won in that category. They racked up 11 penalties, of which six were personal fouls.
Joe Burrow may have finally found his rhythm. Coming into the NFL as the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, he headed to the Cincinnati Bengals and was expected to shine. Things got off to a sluggish start, but he turned it all around yesterday in a key game. Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Burrow logged over 300 yards, making three in a row the times he has now pulled that off. He’s the first rookie QB to do so, and he and running back Joe Mixon hooked up several times to pull off the 33-25 win. Mixon ended the day with an impressive 151 yards on the ground, 30 in the air and three touchdowns.
If the outcome of any sports competition were truly known, watching the action would have less meaning. The LA Lakers advanced to 2-0 against the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals best-of-seven series and, for most, they were on their way to a possible sweep. Game 3 last night wasn’t expected to give any surprises, especially since the Heat’s front five are pretty banged up, but this is what competition is all about. The Heat destroyed the Lakers and are still in a position to take the series, as long as they keep doing what they did last night.
There’s no arguing that Heat forward Jimmy Butler played a crucial role in the Heat’s 115-104 whooping of the Lakers. He picked up 40 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds after having found his momentum heading into the game. It’s only the third time in the history of the NBA that any player has logged a 40-point triple-double in a Finals game, and one of the other two were both by Lakers players. One of those records is held by LeBron James, who found difficulty last night. In addition to his triple-double, Butler also outscored and out-assisted LeBron – the first time King James has been outperformed in a Finals game.
The Heat came out early and grabbed control of the game, refusing to let go. They held James to 25 points, while Markieff Morris and Kyle Kuzma each picked up 19. The lead scorer for LA in Game 2, Anthony Davis, was nowhere to be seen. After getting to the basket for 31 points in the last game, the Heat knew they needed to stop him, and he was only able to put 15 points on the board.
Davis recognizes that the Lakers didn’t live up to the hype the team has earned last night. He said after the game, “We were getting confused on a lot of things. They had wide-open looks that they missed early and made late from three. We let Jimmy [Butler] get into a strong hand too many times, getting to the basket, getting and-ones or getting to the free-throw line. We were letting guys get to the rim easily with no contact. Our low-man help wasn’t there tonight.”
