The regular season is wrapped up, with NFL Week 18 odds in the books. With it, a bunch of interesting parlays cashed after simmering all season long — namely, division-winner parlays.
And perhaps nobody made out better than a DraftKings Sportsbook customer who turned $60 into nearly $100,000. More on that winner, along with other notable parlays, unique wins and big bets, as we recap NFL Week 18 betting.
Division Dominators
Months ago, a bettor at DraftKings was prescient enough — or fortuitous enough — to string together this eight-leg parlay:
- Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC East
- Detroit Lions to win the NFC North
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the NFC South
- Los Angeles Rams to win the NFC West
- Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East
- Baltimore Ravens to win the AFC North
- Houston Texans to win the AFC South
- Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC West
Sure, a few of those seem like no-brainers. But it’s still no easy task to get an eight-teamer to the finish line.
The Rams are in a division that houses the San Francisco 49ers, who nearly won last year’s Super Bowl and were in the last three NFC Championship Games.
The NFC South is seemingly always a coin flip of mediocrity, and it was again this year. And even the Detroit Lions had to battle through Sunday night — in the final regular-season game — to grab the NFC North crown from the Vikings.
So that bettor’s $60 wager, at odds of +160421 — or approximately 1604/1 — turned into $96,252.
A couple of Caesars Sports customers mirrored that parlay.
Preseason, an Iowa bettor put $25 on the eight-leg division winners parlay and cashed out for $29,398.
Similarly, a North Carolina bettor put $25 on the same parlay at slightly different odds and won $29,110.
Take a Free Ride
A FanDuel Sportsbook bettor took arguably a sweeter route — though with a lower payout — to scoring a win on an eight-leg NFL division winners parlay. In this case, the customer used a $5 bonus bet.
In other words, it was a free bet.
Seven division winners had already clinched even before Week 18. So this bettor needed — along with anyone else playing such a parlay — was the Lions to win at home Sunday night vs. the Vikings.
The Lions did so, pulling away in the second half for a 31-9 victory. And the bettor’s $5 free play became $6,252.56 in profit.
Parlay Partay
NFL Week 18 odds certainly had their share of more standard player-prop parlays, too. At Caesars Sportsbook, a bettor put $25 on a seven-leg wager of anytime touchdown scorers.
All seven found paydirt, and the bettor turned a profit of more than $46,000.
At FanDuel, a bettor put together a modest $10, three-leg parlay:
- Kyle Juszczyk +1500 to score anytime in the 49ers-Cardinals game
- Tyler Higbee +1000 to score anytime in the Rams–Seahawks game
- Tyler Conklin +600 to score anytime in the Jets–Dolphins game
Juszczyk was the only sweat of the three, and he really wasn’t much sweat at all. The San Fran fullback scored late in the third quarter of a 47-24 loss to Arizona.
So, at parlay odds of +123100 (1231/1), the customer turned ten bucks into $12,310 profit.
Here’s Hoping You Had It
It’s not all about cashing out wild parlays for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. When you multiply any wager by 10 or 20, or in this case 35, and that wager comes through, it’ll nicely fatten up your wallet.
At Caesars Sports, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was +3500 to score two touchdowns vs. the Atlanta Falcons. In the second quarter, Young ran it in from two yards out, and he added a nine-yard run late in the fourth quarter of Carolina’s 44-38 overtime victory.
A $10 wager on that proposition bet would’ve netted $350.
Here’s one that would’ve been much harder to anticipate: Detroit running back Jahmyr Gibbs to score four or more touchdowns.
FanDuel Sportsbook offered that prop, at odds of +3600. Then Gibbs had a massive Sunday night, scoring the first TD of the game against the Vikings, then putting up three more touchdowns in the second half.
So if you took a $10 flier on that market, then you’d have an extra $360 right now.
Lions beat Vikings — Is Dan Campbell the perfect coach for Detroit?
I Like Big Bets And I Cannot Lie
Per usual, there was a gaggle of major wagers on NFL Week 18 odds. Caesars Sports reported the following big bets:
- $165,000 Titans -1.5 vs. Texans. That wager became a donation to the house, as Houston won 23-14.
- $151,400 Vikings moneyline +130 vs. Lions. Minnesota got plowed under in the second half by Jahmyr Gibbs & Co., losing 31-9.
- $110,000 Bengals -1.5 vs. Steelers. Cincinnati edged Pittsburgh 19-17, covering by a half-point. The bettor profited $100,000 (total payout $210,000).
Caesars also saw a couple noteworthy futures wagers, including this one: $7,500 on Chiefs to beat the Packers in the Super Bowl, at odds of +3500. If that matchup comes to fruition and the Chiefs win a third straight title, then the bettor collects a hefty $262,500.
And in perhaps the lovable loser category: Last week, prior to Cincinnati being eliminated from playoff contention, a Caesars customer put $3,000 on Bengals +10000 — that’s 100/1 — to win the Super Bowl.
That could’ve turned a $300,000 profit. But alas, Cincy didn’t make the playoffs. Which is just another good reminder to keep it reasonable. Never bet more than you can afford to lose.
Enjoy the postseason!
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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