Anyone who tuned in to catch the Masters last week saw some amazing shots and an unlikely winner. Jon Rahm’s shot on the 16 at Augusta National while he was practicing for the real thing was one for the history books, but it wouldn’t be enough to see him capture the title. However, it was definitely enough to draw a lot of gambling attention to the PGA golf tournament. The Masters kept football from sweeping the top-ten event list on the Bodog sportsbook this past weekend, with NFL and college gridiron action overwhelmingly taking control of bets.
As has become standard since September, NFL action captured 45.23% of the wagers on Bodog, with college football taking 40.48%. The closest runner-up was the Masters, but at a distant 6.51%. After this, Ultimate Fighting Champion (UFC) squeaked in with 2.65% of the bets, and the UEFA Nations League made an appearance, grabbing 0.92% of the action. =Tennis had two places on the top-ten list, thanks to the Sofia Open’s 0.91% and the Linz Open’s 0.82%.
Sandwiched between the two tennis entries was a sport that, for the most part, helped to keep sports gambling operators afloat after leagues started shutting down in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Table tennis was back this past weekend, with the Liga Pro receiving 0.90% of the bets on Bodog. The Chinese Basketball Association and cricket rounded out the list, taking 0.81% and 0.76%, respectively.
As far as individual games or competitions go, NFL and college football was responsible for nine of the top ten spots on the sportsbook. The Masters proved to be extremely enticing, though, accounting for 14.31% of the action. Anyone who missed the practice shot by Rahm has missed (to steal a phrase from baseball) the shot heard around the world. In the end, though, it was Dustin Johnson who would capture the title and the green jacket. He finished the day at 20 under, breaking a tournament record of 18 that had been shared by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. It was Johnson’s first-ever Masters win and now allows him to brag of being the first player to win each of the four World Golf Championship Events.
As Johnson was swinging away on the greens toward history, the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots were ready to face off in one of the many NFL games on tap on Sunday. That game captured 28.66% of the bets and was the only double-digit football game that interested gamblers. After the Masters came in at second, the NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers only took 7.87%, followed closely by the Seattle Seahawks/LA Rams matchup, which got 7.65%. From there, the NFL games had all the top spots on Bodog, minus one. The college game between the Notre Dame Fighti the Boston College Eagles sneaked in to steal 6.29% of the wagers as the Irish went on to take down their ACC rivals, 45-31.
