On Sports Betting: Plenty of Cheers – and Winning Tickets – for USA Women’s World Cup Winners

Sometime in the early afternoon on Tuesday, our ears perked up as we heard a loud cheer from the race and sports book at one of the local properties.

It wasn’t the deep, thunderous roar we hear after a big, game-turning play during the NFL season.

Nor was it the more high-pitched, excited cheer we hear when the Vegas Golden Knights score a goal.

But it was nonetheless a loud cheer and it was for the USA team in the Women’s World Cup semifinal between the United States and England. In fact, no one had actually scored — but there had been a fine defensive play.

The United States team prevailed, 2-1, so if you had a ticket on the red, white and blue at around -140, you can buy lunch next time we see you in the book. Over 2.5 goals was also a winner. The loss of USA star Megan Rapinoe to injury before the start of the game dropped the line to -125 in some locales, according to the Action Network.

There was another intriguing game with an early start on Tuesday. And that was the Las Vegas Aces vs. the Chicago Sky. The Aces were -9. Regular readers of these posts know we had been fading the Aces here and there over the last few games. We were preoccupied with other matters and didn’t grab the points for the early start. But the Sky were a narrow point-spread winner in an 90-82 loss to the Aces in a home game at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Later on Tuesday, the Las Vegas Aviators hung on to beat the Reno Aces, 8-7. They had beaten the Aces by the identical score a day earlier. The price had risen to -180 from -170 for this game, and the total had edged up from 13.5 to 14.5 from Monday.

We were out and about on the Fourth of July but didn’t find anything compelling enough to lure us to the betting window. But we ran into an enthusiastic “play-ah” who had bet the New York Yankees-Tampa Bay Rays total over 9 and was elated when the Rays, trailing 3-1, scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings before losing, 8-4. We hear plenty of “bad beat” stories so the “good win” was a refreshing change.

By Friday, the NBA Summer League was in action. Futures odds had the New York Knicks at 10-1, the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota T-Wolves at 12-1. If you were interested in a longshot, Team China was posted at 100-1, according to Vegas Insider.

Also Friday, the Las Vegas Aviators were on the road vs. the Albuquerque Isotopes. After dominating the Reno Aces at home, Station properties made the Aviators -210 road favorites with a total of 14.

And the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA were also back in action. With the Washington Mystics and their 9-3 record at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, oddsmakers made the game a “pick.” Though as game time neared, nearly 80 percent of the money was on the Mystics, according to Vegas Insider.

The Aviators delivered, despite the hefty price, beating the Isotopes, 16-3.

In the WNBA, we saw a half-time score with the Mystics leading the Aces, 51-36. But Earthquake 2.0 brought about a cancellation of the remainder of the game. NBA Summer League games were also disrupted Friday because of the earthquake.

By the time a sports-saturated Saturday dawned, UFC 239 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was arguably the biggest event. We were out and about that day and watched a few of the undercard matches.

Later in the day, Jon Jones prevailed in a split decision to retain his light heavyweight title as anywhere from a -500 to -800 favorite, and Amanda Nunes at -400 won by KO/TKO over challenger Holly Holm. Vegas Insider reported favorites cashed in nine of 12 fights.

 

Of course by Sunday, USA vs. the Netherlands in the Women’s World Cup was the marquee event. The American team went off as anywhere from a -270 to -325 favorite and rewarded chalk bettors with a 2-0 victory. With the total at 2.5, under bettors also got to cash tickets.

We tuned into a little bit of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the Daytona International Speedway afterward and witnessed a spectacular crash in the race followed by lightning-induced red flags with 33 laps to go. Brad Keselowski at 8/1 and Joey Logana at 8/1 were among the favorites but auto racing in a lightning delay is about as exciting as baseball in a rain delay, and we eventually lost interest.

Since we had been fading the WNBA Aces, we looked for a final score and saw they had overwhelmed the New York Liberty, 90-58, to handily cover -5.5. For the first time in awhile, they even won the fourth quarter, 26-13.

So what’s next?

— A full slate of tennis matches at Wimbledon in the Round of 16 were underway by 3:30 a.m. Monday. Upstart Cori Gauff was +270 vs. Simona Halep, but Halep won, 6-3, 6-2.

— The 2019 MLB Home Run Derby gets underway later Monday. Reigning National League MVP Christian Yelich was +350 but scratched on Sunday because of a back injury, according to Covers.com. Other big names include Josh Bell at  +400, Pete Alonso at +500 and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at +600. There’s also opening round heads-up matches.

— The MLB All-Star game is slated for Tuesday with the American League currently at -110 and the National League at +100. The total is 8.5.

— The Open Championship on the PGA Tour tees off July 18  in Northern Ireland with Tiger Woods at 6/1 and Rory McIlroy at 8/1. (Woods is also 7/1 for the 2020 Masters that tees off on April 9.)

— Manny Pacquiao continues to draw money in his July 20 WBA welterweight fight vs. Keith Thurman. Pacquiao is now -125.