ESPN
Dec 24, 2025, 06:44 AM ET
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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Dec. 24: Chiefs heavy underdogs in underwhelming NFL Christmas slate
Doug Greenberg: In recent years, the NFL has slowly but surely siphoned attention from the NBA on Christmas Day. This season, the NFL's slate on Dec. 25 was supposed to be a classic one, pitting division rivals against each other with immense playoff stakes on the line, a feast for bettors.
But those preseason expectations have almost entirely dissipated after 16 weeks: The Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders are both out of playoff contention, the Detroit Lions are fighting for their playoff lives against the eliminated Minnesota Vikings, and -- perhaps most shockingly -- the Kansas City Chiefs are already out of the playoff race as they face the Denver Broncos, currently the AFC's No. 1 seed.
Without starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes and backup quarterback Gardner Minshew injured, Kansas City opened the week as a 12.5-point underdog to Denver before quickly moving out to +13.5, according to DraftKings odds. Should the line hold, it would be the Chiefs' largest underdog role since Week 17 of 2012 when they were +16.5 to the Peyton Manning-led Broncos.
It's the latest in a season of miserable betting benchmarks for Kansas City. The Chiefs have now failed to cover the spread in seven straight games, tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the longest active ATS losing streak in the NFL, and tied with the 1985 Chiefs for the longest ATS losing streak in franchise history.
Kansas City has also lost eight games outright as the betting favorite, tying the 2014 New Orleans Saints, 2003 Buccaneers and 1983 New York Jets for the most losses as a favorite in a single season of the Super Bowl era, according to ESPN Research.
Four of the top seven preseason Super Bowl favorites are now either eliminated or heavy underdogs to make the playoffs. The Chiefs began the season with a fourth-best mark of +850 and were a decently popular pick, appearing in the top five for handle at DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM near the start of the season.
That said, there was a solid contingent of bettors who believed Denver could dethrone Kansas City this season. At BetMGM, the Broncos were the most bet team to win the AFC West and, further, were the most-bet team to win its division in the league. The sportsbook currently counts Denver as its largest liability for the AFC West, but is offsetting that by having Kansas City as its second-largest liability for the Super Bowl.
Dec. 18: Massachusetts addresses 'fundamental fairness' of limiting bettors
David Purdum: Massachusetts sportsbooks might soon be required to provide an explanation to any bettor who is limited on how much they can wager.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a regulation that would require sportsbooks to provide bettors with a timely notice that their account has been limited, a specific explanation for the limit and identification of what markets are limited. The regulation will now be put forward for public comment, with further consideration to be given to the matter.
"We start there, we get comment and we go forward from there," MGC Commissioner Eileen O'Brien said during the hearing Thursday. "I would add from my view it's not just transparency, it's fundamental fairness."
Once the proposed regulation is posted on the commission's website, interested stakeholders can submit written comment during a 21-day period. The start of the public comment period is undetermined but is expected "sooner than later," according to a source familiar with the process.
Massachusetts is the first jurisdiction in the United States to address the sportsbook practice of limiting the amounts some customers may wager on certain markets. "That is a significant first step, and I applaud the MGC for looking at a topic that so many have chosen to ignore," said Richard Schuetz, a spokesperson for the advocacy group American Bettors' Voice.
The debate has escalated since the widespread expansion of legal betting in the U.S., with some customers questioning why they're restricted to betting only small amounts while others are allowed to place much larger wagers on the same markets. Sportsbooks say only a small percentage of bettors face account restrictions.
During an MGC hearing in September 2024, sportsbook representatives said customers may be limited for betting on erroneous lines, abusing bonus offers or simply having a "better model" or "more information." Sportsbooks insisted that the decision to impose limits is based not strictly on winning but more on the approach certain bettors take.
Dec. 6: Spain, England remain World Cup favorites after draw, USA a large liability
Doug Greenberg: The FIFA World Cup picture is beginning to come into focus, and American sportsbooks are gearing up for what is anticipated to be the biggest tournament in their histories.
Following Friday's World Cup draw, Spain maintained its position atop the World Cup winner odds board, showing +450 odds at DraftKings Sportsbook. England came in next at +550, a slight improvement from the +600 it showed coming into the day, followed by France at +750, a slight decline from its +700 on Friday morning. Argentina and Brazil rounded out the top five at +800 each.
With most sportsbooks posting these markets shortly after the conclusion of the 2022 World Cup over three years ago, there has been plenty of time for bookmakers to refine the odds and for bettors to get action down.
"We already know some of our exposures," DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. "That's the nice part about having something up for a long period of time before the matchups are even drawn, because you've taken money and you kind of know where you stand."
Avello and other bookmarks were, thus, not expecting drastic futures movement from the draw, especially among the favorites, but there was some movement in the middle tier of the odds board. Belgium shortened from +5000 to +4000, while Uruguay -- drawn into a tough group that includes favorite Spain -- lengthened from +5000 to +6500. Ecuador, Morocco and Switzerland, meanwhile, all improved from 100-1 to +8000 following the draw.
"We could definitely see some movement at the top of the board after the draw," theScore Bet VP of sportsbook growth & strategy Adam Landeka told ESPN before Friday. "Groupings and the subsequent predictions for potential matchups for the knockout rounds will start to give us an idea of what sides have an easier path, and who may be on a collision course for a tougher matchup in the new round of 32 or beyond."
BetMGM sports trader Tom Pullin also noted that the expanded field and resulting new format, which allows some third-place group stage teams to qualify for the knockout rounds, could have an effect on both futures and match-to-match oddsmaking. "More teams competing could create more parity in odds, in theory," he told ESPN.
The early betting has largely been on the favorite, Spain: DraftKings reports a dominant 43% of bets and 35% of handle backing La Roja, with BetMGM similarly reporting its highest percentages of tickets and money supporting the Spaniards to win it all. Other popular early picks among the betting public include England, France and Portugal.
However, easily the largest liability for American sportsbooks is the United States, who is, perhaps unsurprisingly, receiving robust support from the home faithful. At long odds -- +8000 at DraftKings -- that adds up to a big loss for the books should the Americans pull off the big upset to become world champions.
"If the U.S. wins the whole thing, I would say we're going to have a pretty significant liability on them," Avello said. "The American public will bet the U.S. every time they play and if they make it far, we're going to have big decisions. And we're good with that. I hope they go far. I hope they do well, but we all know what it means though when the U.S. is in a World Cup and they have some moderate success."
Avello adds that the U.S. will likely get bet up to an even greater extent with the tournament taking place on home soil. That, in addition to the expanded field and a general growing interest in soccer in the United States, will likely make the 2026 World Cup easily the most-bet for sportsbooks in American betting history.
Dec. 5: End of LeBron James' 10-point streak costly for some bettors, sigh of relief for others
David Purdum: LeBron James' nearly 18-year streak of scoring at least 10 points in every game ended Thursday. The end of the streak was costly for some bettors and a sigh of relief for others who had been repeatedly risking a lot to win a little on the Los Angeles Lakers' superstar to keep reaching double figures.
On Thursday at DraftKings, the odds of James scoring at least 10 points against the Toronto Raptors were -2600, meaning a bettor would need to risk $2,600 to win a net $100. DraftKings confirmed to ESPN that it took a $15,000 bet at those odds for a chance at a $576.92 net payout.
James had eight points on the Lakers' final possession in a tie game. He drove to the paint before firing a pass to Rui Hachimura, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer as time expired. James finished with eight points, failing to reach double figures for the first time since Jan. 5, 2007, a streak of 1,297 games. The $15,000 bet lost.
An account on X that goes by @BryceLottos posted a screenshot of the $15,000 wager and added a message, "LeBron James scored 10+ points in 1,297 consecutive regular season games. Then I bet on him."
The user, who asked to only be referred by his first name Bryce, told ESPN it was the second time he had bet on the James prop. Others had been betting it for much longer.
Chris J., a professional bettor who asked to be referred only by his first name and last initial, had been betting on James to score 10 points game after game last season, repeatedly risking thousands of dollars to win hundreds. He told ESPN on Friday that he bet on James to score 10 points in his first game this season but stopped there, because, "LeBron was looking rough after not having a training camp/preseason." James missed the start of the season, dealing with sciatica, before returning in mid-November.
"[I] couldn't justify playing those high of odds," Chris J. said in a direct message on social media.
Online sportsbook theScore Bet said it offered James to score at least 10 points at -5000 odds Thursday against the Raptors. The prop was the seventh-most non-NFL player prop by amount wagered at the book Thursday. When including live wagering after the game had begun, the James 10+ point prop was the most bet player prop across all events, outside of "Thursday Night Football," and accounted for 18% of all NBA player props last night, a spokesperson for theScore Bet reported.
Dec. 3: Patriots, Bears defy odds and attract Super Bowl handle
Doug Greenberg: Headed into Week 14 of the NFL season, the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears are the top seeds in the AFC and NFC playoff brackets, respectively ... a tremendous subversion of preseason expectations.
Going into the campaign, the Patriots showed +145 odds and the Bears had +175 to even make the playoffs. Now, New England is off DraftKings' board in that market -- the only team in the league with that distinction -- displaying the near certainty of a playoff berth, while Chicago has -310 odds to make the playoffs, which might seem longer than expected but is roughly in-line with the 76% chance that ESPN's Football Power Index predicts.
Bookmakers are notoriously conservative with their power ratings of teams, especially as the stakes get higher, and they have, fittingly, not crowned the Pats and Bears just yet.
New England is the favorite to win the AFC at +400, but that's still among the longest odds entering December in the last 15 years, according to ESPN Research; the Buffalo Bills (+425) and Denver Broncos (+450) are lurking right behind for conference title odds. Even more notably, Chicago ranks seventh in NFC title odds (+1500) despite currently holding the conference's No. 1 seed.
Even with the continued sportsbook pessimism, bettors are backing the Patriots and Bears in droves.
In the past week, the two teams have been the most-bet to win the Super Bowl at DraftKings, attracting a combined 37% of the handle, while Chicago has taken the most wagers (16%) overall. BetMGM says the Bears have been the most-bet team for the Super Bowl since their Black Friday upset of the Philadelphia Eagles, which included a $50,000 wager at +6600 odds that would net $3.3 million if successful.
Each squad has also easily been the most-bet to win its respective conference in the last week, according to DraftKings.
On the flip side, many of the preseason Super Bowl favorites now find themselves on the outside looking in at the playoff picture. Entering Week 9, the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions were the top two championship favorites but are now +120 and +115, respectively, to even make the playoffs.
That said, Week 14 poses several massive matchups that could have enormous implications on the postseason, including a Thursday night contest for Detroit against the Dallas Cowboys and a Sunday night showdown for Kansas City against the Houston Texans.
