Friday, October 5, 2012

Broncos-Patriots Most Bet Game of Week 5; Great two-way action

Sports Books will be busy all weekend with Broncos-Patriots action
By Micah Roberts
Sporting News

LAS VEGAS—When Cantor Gaming sports books in Las Vegas opened their early lines for each week of the 2012 NFL season back in May, the Week 5 matchup between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots got plenty of attention from the betting public. Five months later, nothing has changed. It’s still one of the most eagerly anticipated games among bettors in this young season.

“The Broncos-Patriots game will be the most bet game of the week,” said Cantor Gaming sports book director Mike Colbert. “We’re seeing great two-way action on it so far, and it already has a larger amount written on it than what we usually see from big games at this stage for the big weekend push.”

Colbert astutely had the Patriots installed as 7-point favorites back in May, a number he re-posted when they opened betting on the game last Sunday night.

“We opened the game Patriots -7, took a few big Broncos bets at +7, and have been dealing -6.5 all week, which looks to be the right number. I don’t think we’ll see it move up or down. Both teams are public favorites, which should keep us pretty balanced right up until kickoff.”

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The excitement at the bet windows is attributed to Payton Manning and Tom Brady—who have set the gold standard over the last decade as to what an NFL quarterback should be—squaring off once again. Over their careers against each other, Brady has holds an 8-4 mark, including winning the first six against Manning. But Manning has had the most recent success, winning four of their past six meetings.