Sportsbooks take a bath as public backs favorites

For the third straight week, sportsbooks suffered overall losses in NFL action, as teams receiving the majority of spread bets went 11-0 on Sunday. ESPN.com reported Nevada establishments lost $7 million-$10 million on the day.

“That’s why sports betting is America’s best chance when they’re gambling,” said Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill’s director of trading. “Sportsbooks hold 6 or 7 percent at the end of the year. It’s not like slots or lotto or horses, which are well into the double digits.

“There’s nothing you can really do about it. The public does have to win now and then. ... [This] usually happens once or twice a year, but it’s never fun when it does, that’s for sure. But this Sun- day was much worse.”

When the ever-popular and highscoring Chiefs covered an eightpoint spread at Cleveland — nearly 90 percent of the money wagered on the game at William Hill’s sportsbooks was put on Kansas City — the public had declared victory before the 4 p.m. games started.

“There’s no question that because the [public] won last week that there was more money in the pot this week, especially Kansas City,” Bogdanovich said. “Everybody’s on the Kansas City bandwagon. Every single teaser, every single parlay, every single money-line parlay had the Chiefs and the over.

“Our fate was sealed. It was just a matter of how bad it was gonna be. We just lost the key early games, and that was it.”