The Pennsylvania teams open their NFL season this weekend with some recent line shifts taking place in opposite directions.
All nine of the legal online sites in the state listed the Eagles Friday morning as 5.5-point road favorites visiting Washington Sunday afternoon. A week ago, the line in their favor was 6 to 6.5. Some injury concerns could be a factor.
Meanwhile, the Steelers are now 5.5- to 6-point favorites for their opener visiting the New York Giants Monday night. That’s a substantial shift from last week’s line that had them favored by 3.5 to 4.5 points. That could reflect high optimism surrounding Ben Roethlisberger’s return from injury.
For Pennsylvania football fans who focus their betting on their home teams, it will be their first NFL action in more than nine months.
Some maybe couldn’t wait for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to get started and so bet Thursday night’s NFL opener. If they did, hopefully they had the Chiefs to cover the spread in the defending Super Bowl champs’ 34-20 win over the Houston Texans.
And just as they did for that game, the PA sportsbooks have plenty of enticements to encourage betting for the weekend.
Special incentives galore available
Here’s a rundown of special offers on the various sites, supplementing the mere buzz of being able to gamble again on America’s favorite betting sport:
DraftKings: For every one of the 13 Sunday games, a 25% profit boost is available, with $50 as the maximum amount wagered. (New sign-ups can also bet $1 on any team to win and get paid off at 100/1 odds, in addition to customary welcome bonuses.)
FanDuel: The “Football Double-Up” doubles moneyline winnings if your team scores at least 35 points this weekend (max wager $50). Also, the site continues the “Road to 55 Bonus,” in which a $50+ bet on a team to win the Super Bowl returns $5 site credit (up to $50 total) for each regular season win by that team.
FOX Bet: A “Triple Your Money” offer for the Eagles on Sunday lets you bet them (max wager of $10) on the moneyline at +200, instead of the regular price of -250.
Caesars: If you wager up to $50 on any game by Monday, you receive an in-play free bet of the same amount by using the INPLAY50 code.
BetAmerica: Bet at least $50 on the point spread on any weekend game and you receive a free bet of $5 for every passing TD scored by both teams in the contest.
Unibet: Its football parlay boost increases winnings by 50% if you can succeed on one with at least eight legs.
BetRivers/PlaySugarhouse: If you feel good about both Pennsylvania teams, the twin sites are offering futures odds of +360 for both teams to win at least 10 games and +1025 for both to win their division title.
Parx: Its “Daily X Bet” provides a +175 payout if you bet on the Eagles to win and they score at least 24 points. (The game’s over/under is 42.5.)
Futures bets still active for the teams
Wide-ranging futures options remain available to bet on the teams, with some modest tweaks over the past week.
While the Steelers remain 25/1 everywhere to win the Super Bowl and the Eagles mostly remain 20/1, the Kambi-backed sites that include DraftKings, Unibet, Parx, BetRivers, and PlaySugarhouse moved Philadelphia slightly to 22/1.
Both teams are predicted to finish second in their division by most sites, the Eagles behind the Dallas Cowboys and the Steelers behind the Baltimore Ravens. But Caesars has a huge variance from the others concerning Pittsburgh, making the black-and-gold a bigger longshot to win the AFC North at +475, slightly worse than the Cleveland Browns.
And the over/under win totals for both teams stand at either 9 or 9.5, with different vigs among the sites.
If you’re an Eagles backer, the best payoff is with FanDuel at over 9.5 (+125), though you can also go over 9 with the Kambi sites (-134).
Steelers fans might go with either FanDuel at over 9 (-120) or FOX Bet at over 9.5 (+110).
Some player props offer chance for two wins at once
It was noted here last week that of player prop bets involving season totals by Pennsylvania players, Eagles tight end Zach Ertz might be good to bet both ways using different sites’ opposing numbers, hoping to hit a spot in the middle that wins both ways.
You can bet Ertz’s yardage over 850.5 with DraftKings and under 918.5 with FanDuel. You can also bet his touchdowns over 6 with DraftKings and under 7.5 with FanDuel.
In terms of non-Pennsylvania players, the totals below are among some other differences of opinion by the Pennsylvania online sportsbooks to consider exploiting, if you don’t mind tying up some funds for the duration of the season:
Jets quarterback Sam Darnold: Over 20.5 passing TDs with Caesars and under 23.5 with FOX Bet.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins: Over 3599.5 passing yards at FanDuel and under 3850.5 at FOX Bet.
Colts quarterback Philip Rivers: Over 3800.5 passing yards at DraftKings and under 4199.5 at FOX Bet.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr: Over 3250.5 passing yards at DraftKings and under 3500.5 at FOX Bet.
Browns receiver Odell Beckham: Over 5.5 TDs at FanDuel and under 7 at Caesars.
Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins: Over 6.5 TDs at FanDuel and under 8.5 at Caesars.
Lions receiver Kenny Golladay: Over 7 TDs at DraftKings and under 9.5 at Caesars.
Panthers receiver D.J. Moore: Over 1050.5 yards at DraftKings and under 1249.5 at FOX Bet.
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