By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
For months, you’ve been waiting to bet the Las Vegas Raiders.
Now you’ve got your chance. Make that chances.
The Raiders will open the preseason on Aug. 4 — less than three months away — in the Hall of Fame Game vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s Raiders -2 for that game with the total at 33.5. If you like the money line, it’s the Raiders -135. The Jaguars are +115 on the buyback.
The regular season for the silver-and-black begins Sept. 11 with an afternoon game at SoFi Stadium vs. the Los Angeles Chargers. Ready to get your money down? The Raiders are +4, and the total is 52.
Maybe that win total for the regular season intrigues you? That number is 8.5 with over generally priced a little higher at -120 and under -110. But if you shop around, you might find a better price whichever way you lean on the total.
And of course, if you want to look ahead, books and sports-betting apps offer a point spread on every game of the season. Numbers may vary depending on where you look.
The first game with division-rival Kansas Chiefs is a Monday Night Football edition at Arrowhead Stadium on Oct. 10 with Raiders +7.5. The early line for the regular-season finale on Jan. 7 or Jan. 8 vs. the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium is Raiders +5.
The Week 15 “reunion game” between the Las Vegas Raiders and new coach Josh McDaniels and his former team, the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick is a Sunday Night Football matchup at Allegiant Stadium on Dec. 18. That line is currently “pick.”
There’s also a late game on Christmas Eve at the Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to get in the mood, imagine snow, wind, bitterly cold weather and a sea of Steelers Terrible Towels. The Steelers are -2.
After the NFL draft, McDaniels told The Associated Press, “We took the players that we felt were the best players at that position when we were picking at that time of the draft and now it’s time to work and develop those people.”
With the schedule out, the betting lines are out too. Are you ready?
Elsewhere:
— Aces off-again, on-again: The Las Vegas Aces ran into travel and logistical issues last Tuesday and lost to the Washington Mystics, 89-76, as a 5-point road favorite. The Aces scored only seven third-quarter points in that defeat. Was that loss an anomaly?
Perhaps. The Aces rebounded smartly by crushing the Atlanta Dream, 96-73, three days later. Laying 8.5-points on the road, six players scored in double figures, the Aces outscored the Dream in each quarter, and they covered by 14.5 points. The total slipped over by 1.5 points.
“We were super disruptive defensively and just locked in on both ends of the floor,” coach Becky Hammon told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The Aces return home to host the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday at Michelob Ultra Arena. With the Mercury’s Brittney Griner still detained in Russia, the Aces will likely be heavy favorites for the game. They overwhelmed the Mercury on the road in the opening game of the season, 106-88.
— NBA futures favorites: After opening at +1200 to win the NBA Championship, the Golden State Warriors are now generally around +120 to win it all, according to Covers.com. The Warriors dispatched the Memphis Grizzlies in six games and will now face the upstart Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. The Mavericks are in the +650 range to win the title.
“Amazing,” Mavericks star Luka Doncic told the AFP news service after Mavericks routed the No. 1 seeded Suns, 123-90 on Sunday in Game 7. “I don’t know what to say, but this was amazing to win.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics are generally about +215 after ousting the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday in another Game 7. The Miami Heat are around +425.
— Laugher of the week: If you liked the total in the Sunday Night Baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals to go over 7, it was a good call. The Cardinals erupted for 15 runs, including four in the first inning, to defeat the Giants 15-6. With the game well in hand, the Cardinals brought in Albert Pujols to pitch the ninth inning. Pujols allowed a three-run homer by Luis Gonzalez and a solo shot by Joey Bart to add four runs to the final score of the laugher before retiring the side with an ERA of 36.00.