Weekend Sports Gambler: Raiders A Popular Favorite Vs Texans On Sunday
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By Dan Behringer, LVSportsBiz.com Gambling Writer
Are the Las Vegas Raiders flashing a “buy” signal for bettors this Sunday?
The Raiders, after opening as 6.5 favorites vs. the Houston Texans, have moved to -7.
Some 70 percent of the betting interest is on the Las Vegas team, according to Covers.com.
The Raiders do have straight covers under their belts. Arguably, their 30-29 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6 was a winnable game.
Still, though now 2-3 ATS, they are 1-4 in the won-loss column with playoff chances hovering between slim and none. Of course, as the joke goes, slim left town.
Also the Texans, owners of a 1-3-1 record, are 3-1 ATS. So there’s that.
The total is 45.5.
Josh McDaniels, at his press conference on Wednesday on the Texans: “This’ll be a big challenge this week.”
The two teams haven’t met in three years but Houston won, 27-24, the last time they matched up in late October 2019.
Kickoff is at 1:25 p.m.
Elsewhere:
— Fast-starting Knights: Next up for the Vegas Golden Knights is the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights are sitting atop the Pacific Division of the Western Conference with a 4-1 record after dispatching the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2, on Thursday. They closed at around -225 favorites.
“We were rested and ready to rock,” center Jack Eichel told reporters after the game. “I think we took out some of our built-up frustration on them from blowing our (2-0) lead in Calgary (on Saturday).”
A 3-2 loss to the Flames is the only setback of the season for the VGK.
They are generally around -110 with the total at 6.5 for Saturday’s game.
— Rowdy crowds for baseball: Those whoops and hollers coming from the race and sports book at midweek are for the Major League Baseball playoffs. Yeah, baseball.
The NLCS resumes Friday with the Padres and Phillies tied at one game each.
The ALCS resumes Saturday in New York with the Houston Astros holding a 2-0 lead over the Yankees.
At BetMGM, the Astros are -125 to win it all. The Phillies and the Padres are both +375. The Yankees are +750.
“I think we’ve got to shorten up a little bit,” Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton told the New York Post. “If you put the ball in play, you never know what can happen.”
Big number: The UNLV football Rebels find themselves 26.5-point underdogs at Notre Dame on Saturday. The total is 47.5.
After a promising start, UNLV has stumbled and fallen to 4-3. Notre Dame is 3-3.
UNLV head coach Marcus Arroyo said earlier in the week that starting quarterback Doug Brumfield is day-to-day with a concussion.
“We need to get healthy as a team, that’s obvious,” Arroyo told reporters. “We’ve got a lot of new guys in starting, contributing roles that we need to get developed as quickly as we can.”
Kickoff is at 11:30 a.m.
Close cover: If you’ve been following (and fading) the Los Angeles Lakers in the young NBA season, you know they are 0-2 and also 0-2 ATS. It was razor-close on Thursday night with the Lakers at +5.5 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers lost 103-97.
Play of the Week (5-2): We were fortunate to get a cover from Iowa State last week at +16 vs. Texas in a 24-21 defeat to improve on 5-2 for the season. This week, we’re on the Maryland Terrapins, -14, vs. Northwestern.
