Why Bets Go Off the Board – January 2

You may have never seen it happen, but a bet can go off the board. There are a number of reasons why. It actually makes sense, since sportsbooks are in the business of making money. Like any business, they do not want to assume any undue risk. If they can avoid a risky situation, they will.

If there is a huge risk involved with taking bets on a certain event, sportsbooks will just pull the bet off the board. By doing so, the books can remain in control and guarantee that they make a profit or, at the very least, break even. So, why would a sportsbook take a bet off the board? And what happens to bets already made?

Reasons to Take a Bet Off the Board

Let’s take yesterday’s Winter Classic as an example. Vegas was a -135 favorite over Seattle. Easy enough, right? The Golden Knights are the defending Stanley Cup champions and have one of the best records in the NHL. The Kraken were right around .500. Oddsmakers had plenty of information, stats, and metrics to put together solid numbers for the wager.

But, what if Vegas goalie Adin Hill was injured? Hill is the NHL’s best in goals against average (1.93) and save percentage (.933). To top it off, let’s say Logan Thompson, the Knights other goaltender, is also hurt and a number of skaters like leading scorer Jack Eichel and C William Karlsson are out of the lineup as well. Oddsmakers may determine it’s simply too risky to offer a bet on the game. 

Another reason to take a game off the board is the weather. This can happen in football and baseball as well as other outdoor sports. A few years ago, New England and Buffalo played an NFL game in primetime that featured winds of up to 40 mph. Oddsmakers shifted lines throughout the week and some sportsbooks took the bet off the board. The unpredictable weather made it too risky.

What Happens to Bets Taken Off the Board

An obvious question related to bets being taken off the board is what happens to bets that have already been made. Let’s say you bet on the Kansas City Chiefs -8.5 over the Denver Broncos on Tuesday morning. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes suffers an injury in practice on Wednesday. Any bettors that bet against the Chiefs would have a significant advantage here.

With Mahomes ruled out of the game on Thursday, sportsbooks are taking too many wagers on Denver before they can readjust the line. Sportsbooks simply decide to take the bet off the board in an effort to minimize losses. The bets that have already been made are valid bets and sportsbooks will pay out to the winners.

Sports Central Starts the Year with a Bang

Sports Central rolled out seven picks on New Year’s Day and won six of them to take the top spot in our first leaderboard of 2024. There were big wins in the NBA and in college football. There were five bowl games yesterday and many of our Sports Hub cappers provided the masses with wins. A few of our Sports Hub experts also wound up in yesterday’s top-5. It looks like our guys will continue their success in the New Year.

Here’s what happened at the top of the board yesterday.

• Sports Central: As mentioned, this was our leader yesterday with a 6-1 record and $490 in winnings. Sports Central has been rolling recently with $960 to the good over the last three days and $1122 for the week.
• Dan Jones: Dan has been one of our most consistent cappers and showed his abilities for picking winners yesterday with a 3-1 mark on four picks. Dan won $336 – he nailed a soccer pick at +246 – and he already has one college basketball pick in the system for tonight. Hopefully, it won’t be taken off the board. That’s rare in college basketball.
• Jhon Walsh: Jhon went 3-0 and collected $300 in winnings yesterday. He is starting to pick up some steam lately with a 7-3 record over the last three days and $470 added to the bankroll.
• William Taylor: Here’s another recognizable Sports Hub capper. William went 4-1 yesterday and earned $290. He’s been very consistent over the last month. He’s won $430 over the last three days, $870 over the last seven, and $1680 over the last 30. Like Dan and Jhon, William also has a college basketball pick in the system for tonight. You can gain access to all of our handicapper picks with a Sports Hub membership.

What a Day for the CFP

If you watched the College Football Playoff semifinals, you got an extra special treat yesterday. Two great games and now we’ll watch as Michigan and Washington battle for the CFP national championship next Monday night. 

Let’s see what’s trending.

• Michigan: After a season full of adversity, Michigan faced even more last night and came away with a 27-20 win in overtime in the 2024 Rose Bowl. The Wolverines will play for the national title next Monday night.

• Michael Penix: Penix threw for 430 yards and two touchdowns to lead Washington to a 37-31 victory over Texas last night in the Sugar Bowl. Washington rolled up 532 total yards, controlled the time of possession, and earned a trip to the title game in the Pac-12’s last year of existence.
• O.G. Anunoby: Acquired via a trade, now New York Knicks forward Anunoby made an impact in his first game. He scored 17 points and had six rebounds to help lead the Knicks to a 112-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, the top team in the Western Conference.
• McCaffrey out: The Niners RB has a mild calf strain and since San Francisco has locked up the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, head coach Kyle Shanahan will keep McCaffrey out of the 49ers Week 18 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
• Braves acquire Sale: Atlanta acquired yet another Cy Young-caliber pitcher in a trade with Boston. The Braves add Chris Sale to a rotation that includes Spencer Strider, Max Fried, and Charlie Morton.

NBA Game Off the Board Tonight

As we head into the meat of the NBA schedule, there is one game that is currently off the board. The Charlotte Hornets, who have the league’s longest losing streak now that Detroit picked up a win, travel to Sacramento to play the Kings. The Hornets opened as a 15-point underdog, but the game is off the board right now. 

Charlotte’s top two scorers, LaMelo Ball (24.7 ppg) and Terry Rozier (23.6), are listed as out and questionable, respectively. Leading rebounder Mark Williams is also questionable and Gordon Hayward is out. Looks like the books would rather skip this one than take any losses.

Here’s tonight’s schedule.

1. NBATV doubleheader: Chicago plays at Philadelphia and Orlando travels to San Francisco to play Golden State in the NBATV doubleheader tonight. They are two of the six games on the NBA schedule tonight. The Hornets-Kings game is currently off the board, as mentioned.
2. NHL ESPN+/Hulu doubleheader: The NHL delivers bettors a doubleheader too with a Metropolitan Conference rivalry – Washington at Pittsburgh – and Toronto at Los Angeles in the late game. With just the Winter Classic yesterday, there are 13 games on today’s schedule. None have been taken off the board.

3. College basketball conference schedules start: We now hit the meat of the college basketball schedule. Teams will begin playing conference games almost exclusively. There are a couple dozen games on tap, including No. 1 Purdue at Maryland in a Big Ten matchup. No. 4 UConn and No. 5 Tennessee are also in action tonight. We’ve got tons of NCAAB picks in our database already.
4. International soccer: West Ham United plays Brighton & Hove Albion in today’s lone Premier League match. There are three matches in La Liga. Other than those, it’s a pretty slow soccer day.
5. Tennis: Rafael Nadal returned to win his Round 1 singles match at the Brisbane International. The ASB Classic and the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open both continue today. The WTA Tour is playing both the Brisbane International and the ASB Classic as well as the Workday Canberra International.

On this second day of the New Year, set yourself up for success with a Sports Hub membership. Our expert handicappers killed it in 2023 and our primed to do it again in 2024. You get access to all of our free picks, computer picks, and our premium picks from the top cappers in the entire world. Have a great day and come back tomorrow for more!