Circa Sports NFL win totals come with options
Sharps take plus prices on teams they’re sure about
Bettors who believe they have big edges on NFL season win totals can go for larger payouts at Circa Sports.
Circa has opened alternative season win totals on all 32 teams, allowing bettors to essentially buy or sell an extra game on their bets.
For example, the Raiders’ standard win total at Circa is 7½ (under -130/ over +110). Bettors who expect the Raiders to have a great first season in Las Vegas can bet them over 8½ wins at +215. Bettors who expect them to flop can bet under 6½ at +150.
Bettors can also use the alternative totals to buy an extra game’s worth of insurance. They can bet under 8½ at -250 or over 6½ at -170.
“You can get a nice plus price,” Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said. “You’ll see some people go for the extra cushion. Some try to middle their bets.”
Bennett said he has mostly seen sharp bettors going for the plus prices on teams they’re confident about.
He said setting the prices was trickiest for teams with the highest and lowest totals. Teams with whole numbers for totals also bring the added factor of pushes into play, he said.
“If a team’s season win number is eight, then the value is less on one win than on one of the extremes like four or 12,” Bennett said. “There’s a floor or ceiling on how many they can have.”
Another Derby shake-up
As the Kentucky Derby field gets thinner, Tiz the Law’s futures odds get shorter.
Tiz the Law is now the +325 favorite at Circa Sports and the +350 co-favorite at William Hill (with Honor A.P.) for the Sept. 5 Run for the Roses as injuries continue to decimate the field. Top contenders Charlatan and Maxfield joined Nadal in dropping out of the race in the past week.
William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said the losses “hurt the luster” of the event.
“I wish they wouldn’t have gone out,” he said. “It just affects the shape of the race.”
William Hill is well-positioned on the race after it was moved to later in the year because of the coronavirus pandemic, Bogdanovich said.
“It’s going to be a larger handle,” he said. “I don’t think we’re in too bad of shape on any of it.”
After the top two, William Hill has Authentic at 5-1 and Sole Volante at 8-1.
Circa has been offering yes/no props on several of the top horses.
Tiz the Law moved from +475 after Nadal’s injury to +325 (no -450) after the recent dropouts.
Authentic and Honor A.P. are next at +500 (no -780) at Circa, followed by Sole Volante at +950 (no -1,700). Honor A.P. moved down from 10-1 after beating Authentic in the Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.
The no prop will pay out at -900 on Charlatan and -1,200 on Maxfield.
Caesars book to reopen
Caesars Palace will reopen its racebook and sportsbook at 10 a.m. Friday.
The books will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday.
Caesars Entertainment reopened Caesars Palace, Flamingo and Harrah’s Las Vegas on June 4, the first date Nevada casinos were allowed to be open after 78 days of statewide closures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @Jimbarneslv on Twitter. Contact Todd Dewey at tdewey@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.