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Everyone and their moms are betting, at least so far, that the Bills will beat the Jets on opening night.
The Jets are 1.5 point underdogs to the Bills in the opening game on Monday night, September 11 at MetLife Stadium.
BetMGM reports that the Bills have been picked 85% of the tickets (compared to the Jets at 15%), and what’s even clearer is that Buffalo has a 91% to 9% margin on total stakes for the game to this point .
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers talks to coach Robert Saleh during practice.Bill Kostroun/New York Post
The question is whether this is a premature snapshot of a burgeoning betting market or an early sign that bettors across the country are not fully accepting the Jets as a Super Bowl contender after failing to even make the playoffs for 12 years.
“The Bills see some lopsided play initially but we expect the bets to even out just before kick-off,” Seamus Magee, head of BetMGM’s trading team, told The Post. “Chiefs-Lions is the top-stakes game right now, with five times as many tickets as Jets-Bills.”
Magee points out that despite the nearly unanimous support for the Bills, Buffalo’s point spread, which started at -1.5, hasn’t changed.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen (left) talks to wide receiver Stefon Diggs during practice.`
The Jets won the 2023 NFL offseason championship with their move for Aaron Rodgers, their signings of Allen Lazard and Dalvin Cook, the big contract extension for Quinnen Williams, and the hype surrounding reigning Rookies of the Year Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner.
The team receives the greatest respect it has received in the betting futures markets in more than a decade.
The latest odds from BetMGM put the Jets at 18/1 to win the Super Bowl (7th highest in the NFL) and +900 to win the AFC Championship (5th highest in the conference).
Their +250 chance of winning the AFC East is just below the Bills (+130) and ahead of the Dolphins (+275) and Patriots (+750).
And a few Jets are at the top of the list in individual awards markets, including Gardner +900 for Defensive Player of the Year, Rodgers at 16/1 for being named regular-season MVP, and Robert Saleh at 16/1 for being named Coach of the Year.
Betting on the NFL?
According to Magee, a significant part of this support at BetMGM comes from its sportsbooks in New York and New Jersey.
“Local teams always get additional support from bettors in their home state,” Magee said. “The Jets are no different – 5.5% of the bets [nationwide] We hope the Jets win the Super Bowl, but in New York and New Jersey they get the most bets at 14.8%.”
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