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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August 13: Jackson, Burrow leading way in early NFL MVP betting
Doug Greenberg: Less than a month before the NFL season, bettors and sportsbooks alike are eyeing up a pair of perennial AFC North superstars to win the league's highest individual honor.
Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson is the consensus odds leader to win NFL Most Valuable Player for the 2025 season, showing +450 odds at ESPN BET. Those odds are a bit shorter on the two-time MVP compared to the rest of the sportsbook marketplace because it recently took a $50,000 wager at +550, substantially increasing its liability in the market.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow, meanwhile, has been a darling in the MVP market all offseason and currently sits second on ESPN BET's odds board at +600, with the book reporting him as its highest ticket share at 15.7%.
BetMGM says Burrow has the most bets and handle in the market, making him its largest liability, while DraftKings says it took an overwhelming 32% of bets and 38% of handle on him to win MVP in the span of a week; Jackson took the second-most wagers (8%) and money (9%) over that same time period.
Many bettors believe that Jackson could finally get over the hump this season and lead his team to a Super Bowl: The Ravens are ESPN BET's third-most bet team to win the championship by wagers and handle, trailing only the Buffalo Bills and reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles. Baltimore and Philly are tied for favorite status at +650, with Buffalo coming in right behind at +700.
The Ravens are also -160 favorites to win their third straight AFC North title, with the Bengals close at +260. Cincinnati has a respectable 23.2% of bets in that market compared to Baltimore's commanding 61.8%, and by total bets, the Ravens have the second-most tickets across all division winner markets, trailing only the Bills (-350) in the AFC East, according to ESPN BET.
August 12: Lynx supplant Liberty as WNBA title favorites
Doug Greenberg: The Minnesota Lynx (+155) surpassed the New York Liberty (+170) to be the favorites for the 2025 WNBA championship after defeating them on Sunday, according to ESPN BET odds. The Liberty opened as the favorites in the market and had been wire-to-wire favorites up until this point.
Minnesota was briefly the favorite for the 2024 title when it took a 1-0 lead over New York in last season's Finals. The last time the Lynx were title favorites during a regular season was 2018, the final season of Maya Moore's career.
At BetMGM, Minnesota holds 15.1% of the tickets and 12.7% of the handle, second-most behind the Indiana Fever, who hold a staggering share of each split (41.0% of bets, 57.3% of money). While this technically makes the Lynx the book's third-largest liability, also behind the Golden State Valkyries, the Fever are still by far the largest caution.
"The action on the Fever is so lopsided at this point, we are not concerned at this time with other teams," a BetMGM representative told ESPN in July.
The Liberty are back in action Tuesday night as 4.5-point favorites over the Los Angeles Sparks, while the Lynx don't play again until Saturday... when they'll face New York again, this time in Minnesota.
August 8: Manning no longer 2026 No. 1 draft pick favorite
Doug Greenberg: With one quote in a local magazine, Archie Manning apparently almost single-handedly moved the lines for a betting market involving his grandson, Texas quarterback Arch Manning.
In an article for Texas Monthly, the former NFL quarterback commented on his grandson's chances to enter the 2026 NFL draft, "Arch isn't going to do that. He'll be at Texas," Archie Manning said. As the quote circulated around the internet, sportsbooks drastically altered the younger Manning's odds to be the No. 1 pick in next year's NFL draft, with ESPN BET lengthening him from a +225 favorite to +900, fifth in the market.
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier moved from +400 to the new favorite to go No. 1 at +350. Just behind Nussmeier is Clemson signal-caller Cade Klubnik at +360, having made two drastic moves, first from +1000 to +600, then to his current position. Penn State QB Drew Allar and South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers round out the top four and are tied at +450.
Klubnik's big move up the board could be explained by the significant action on him in the market, as he has received 15.6% of the bets and 21.1% of the handle, second behind Sellers with a leading 22.2% of the tickets and 27.6% of the money. Sellers' movement was not as significant, but he did go from +850 to his current position off of the Manning news.
Manning, meanwhile, has 8.9% of the wagers and 5.0% of the handle at ESPN BET, fourth and sixth in the market, respectively. Bookmakers could have been keen to lengthen his odds, given this is not the first time a prominent figure has said Manning is unlikely to enter the draft next year: In late July, Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said he believes Manning will stay at Texas for two more seasons.