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NFL Week 1 betting for the 2009 season featured a number of teams getting heavy public action, some of them big surprises.
Gambling911.com would caution that the betting public has been completely decimated over the past two weekends of College Football action, losing almost every key game including yesterday's USC/Ohio State and Notre Dame/Michigan games.
It doesn't matter where you look, Minnesota is getting the most action of any other team in the NFL this weekend by a long shot and it looks as if they will have amassed more money than any other team by the time Week 1 is complete. The Vikings were a -3 ½ favorite to beat Cleveland on the road at SBG Global. Books were only divided when it came to the line on this game, which ranged between -3 ½ and -4. The Vikings were getting nearly 95 percent of the action. Scary stuff being that the line really hasn't moved all that much. Oddsmakers believe this game will fall within a field goal or that Cleveland could win outright.
The consensus among online sportsbooks is that the Dallas Cowboys are getting the second most betting action of any other NFL team. The best line available was -4 at SBG Global. Most books had Dallas as high as -5. Nearly 85 percent of the bets were coming in on Dallas as opposed to Tampa Bay.
Cincinnati was the 3rd most bet on team, though some books had New Orleans getting more action. The Bengals were a -5 point favorite at betED.com. Nearly 85 percent of the action was going Cincinnati's way in this game.
New Orleans was 4th when it came to betting action. The Saints were getting about 80 percent of the action in this game. The Saints were -13 ½ favorites against last year's winless Detroit Lions.
The Philadelphia Eagles were hovering around the number 5/6 position, getting 70 percent of the action as a -2 ½ favorite in Carolina.
The Houston Texans were sitting around the 6/7 position in terms of overall betting action. They were getting around 75 percent of the action in this game, though the volume was less than that of the Eagles/Panthers game at most online sportsbooks.
Beyond this point, team betting action varied across the board. The Texans were -4 favorites at betED.com.
The Green Bay Packers were going to be getting heavy action by the time Sunday was over. Some books were already reporting the Packers among the top 5 bets early on. SBG Global had them at -4. They were getting around 75 percent of the betting action here but the game itself will be among the most bet on this weekend.
Baltimore (one of the more heavily bet on games early on), Atlanta, Indianapolis and the New York Giants were getting decent betting action early on. The Giants were likely to get more action as the late afternoon approached. This game against Washington was hardly all that lopsided though New York had the near 65 percent action edge with a line of -6 ½ at betED.com.
The Ravens were getting around 75 percent of the betting action in their game. The Falcons were getting nearly 70 percent as were the Colts. St. Louis vs. Seattle appeared to be the weakest link during Week 1 of the 2009 NFL season, though this was a late game and more action was likely following Sunday's first half of play.
The books will need covers by Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Denver, Detroit and Chicago later on. To a lesser extent they'll be wanting a New York (Jets) and Kansas City cover as well.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
