NFL Wagers, Parlays Will Likely Be Kentucky Sports Bettors’ Favorites

Written By Adam Hensley on June 9, 2023 - Last Updated on June 29, 2023
What Kentucky sports bettors will wager on

When it comes to the Kentucky sports bettors, expect NFL wagers and parlays to be some of the more popular options. At least if you’re following the national trend.

A legal Kentucky sports betting industry is just a few months away. It could be as early as the start of the upcoming NFL season if Gov. Andy Beshear gets his wish.

That deadline of starting before football kicks off is no coincidence. In the U.S., the NFL is by far the most popular sport.

Just check the television numbers.

In 2022, the eight most-watched Nielson-measured telecasts on the year were NFL games. For reference, the ninth-most viewed television event was Joe Biden’s State of the Union. Biden’s programming was the only non-NFL event in the top 20 spots.

Couple that with the recent rise in popularity of same-game parlays, and it’s no secret as to what could be some of Kentucky residents’ favorite betting options this year,

Football is king, especially the NFL

BetMGM released a blog a few years back about which betting options are the most popular.

“Bettors tend to put money on the sports they’re most familiar with,” the sportsbook wrote. “If you know it, you’re more likely to be able to make an informed wager. The general popularity of a sport is also important.”

Based on that, it’s not unreasonable to suspect football betting will reign supreme in Kentucky, especially at the professional level. To learn more, check out our BetMGM online sportsbook review here.

Kentucky is not home to a professional football franchise. But it’s nestled between Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee — states with their own popular NFL teams.

Findings by CRG Global and Variety Intelligence Platform discovered that four out of five sports betting customers wagered on the NFL this past October. That 80% mark stands above every other sport, including college football (34%).

There’s no telling if Kentucky plans to release its sports betting data on a per-sport basis. Some states do, but others don’t.

Colorado’s monthly sports betting revenue numbers, for instance, highlight the exact percentage of handle each sport, professional and collegiate, accounted for in a given timeframe. Iowa, a state with a similar sports demographic as Kentucky, does not offer per-sport figures — just overall numbers.

But even if Kentucky doesn’t offer that specific of results each month, expect professional football to be leading the charge.

Expect plenty of parlays created by Kentucky sports bettors

There aren’t many times bettors can wager $5 and be confident in a $200 payout, but parlays will provide that feeling.

At least two separate outcomes must occur for a parlay to cash. The temptation behind these lies within the odds. Customers could stack various games or same-game options and see the chances of a $5 bet turn into a $200 payout. It’s an intriguing proposition, but the mirage of a bountiful payout often outweighs the unreasonable odds.

Especially in same-game parlays, the prospect of picking multiple outcomes from a single sporting event recently sparked in popularity. Every major sportsbook offers them as a betting option.

According to an ESPN report, sportsbooks powered by Kambi (DraftKings, Barstool, BetRivers) saw 46% of NFL bettors place a same-game parlay. The same report noted that 28% of all pre-game bets through a Kambi sportsbook last NFL season were same-game parlays.

Learn more about the NFL betting options available for KY bettors at our DraftKings Kentucky Sportsbook review page.

Sportsbooks will advertise their parlays as well

And rightfully so. Parlays are great for sportsbook operators but not so much for bettors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a typical sportsbook’s hold on a straight bet is around 5%. Compare that to a books’ typical parlay hold of 15-20%, and that’s a staggering difference.

Sportsbooks realize this and often piece together their own parlays for bettors looking for a quick wager. Those parlays will often find their way to the home screen of the sports betting apps.

In turn, with the rise of parlay popularity, sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings reported higher hold rates in 2022 than in years past.

“Obviously, (sportsbooks) want to push them because margains ae high,” OddsJam.com’s Alex Monahan told ESPN. “We have had certain customers say they think they have a better correlation model than the books. My assumption is that FanDuel’s models are pretty, pretty good. There are some customers who are beating them for sure, especially in some weak spots, but I just don’t think most people can beat FanDuel on correlation, just given how many traders they have and how good they are.”

 

Photo by AP / Jeff Dean
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Adam Hensley

Adam Hensley is a staff writer for PlayKentucky. His byline has appeared in the Associated Press, Sports Illustrated and sites within the USA Today Network. Hensley graduated from the University of Iowa in 2019 and spent his college career working for the Daily Iowan’s sports department, both as an editor and reporter.

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