BTSC Bookie: The final results of the 2019 season

It is time for the final installment of BTSC Bookie for the 2019 season. This was a chance for the BTSC community to collectively choose where to place an imaginary wager of “BTSC Bucks.” Starting with $500 in BTSC Bucks for the season, we never came close to busting at any time during 2019. Bets varied all season from against the spread, moneyline, over/under, parlays, and even prop bets on the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Wagers

Between the outcome of the game and all the prop bets, we had eight different wagers on the Super Bowl. The two major wagers of $100 each were on the winner of the game and the over/under. We correctly chose the Chiefs as the winner with a payout at -115 which earned $86.96 above the original bet. Unfortunately, the game came up a little short of the 54.5 points total so we lost our $100 bet on the over.

Six different bets of $25 each were placed on various “prop bets” for the Super Bowl. The first was Super Bowl MVP which we correctly predicted Patrick Mahomes at +115 and earned $28.75. The night started off on a positive note as we correctly predicted the coin toss of tails and earned $23.81 on the bet at -105. In the closest of all the polls, we lost $25 on which team scored first as San Francisco came up one vote shy of Kansas City.

Another bet was on a player who would score either a rushing or receiving touchdown. This poll actually ended in a tie between Travis Kelce at -150 and Raheem Mostert at -130. Since both players scored, splitting the bet between the players earned a total of $17.86. The next bet was somewhat tricky as we placed a wager on Patrick Mahomes to have more than 2.5 touchdowns. Since the specific terminology did not say passing touchdowns, Mahomes rushing touchdown was also included and $22.12 was earned at the payout of -113. Finally, we also earned another $22.12 for correctly choosing Jimmy Garoppolo throwing for less than 239.5 yards.

While we ended up losing money on the two large bets due to splitting the results, correctly choosing five of the six prop bets gave us an overall increase on the game. In all, we gained $76.62 on the Super Bowl.

Week 20 Balance: $1,361.52

Week 21 Net Gain/Loss: +$76.62

Week 21 Total: $1438.14

Evaluating the season

For 2019, The BTSC community did an excellent job in betting on games. In all, we turned $500 into a profit of $938.14! Walking away with almost triple of what we started with, the only time we dipped below our initial starting bet of $500 was at the end of the Week 1.

There were two weeks of the season in which we lost every bet we placed ($175). During the Steelers’ bye week we were unable to cash in on any bets as well as two weeks later during Week 9. Sandwiched in between the two low weeks was our top money winner when we earned just shy of $300 in one week. Part of the reason our payout was so large was connecting on a $25 parlay bet of three different wagers.

Being a Steelers community, the only time one of our wagers was not placed on the Steelers during the regular season was during their bye week, when they played on Thursday night and those games were not eligible, and in Week 16 when users chose to only place one large bet on one game. Wisely, BTSC chose not to bet on the Steelers-Jets game and went with a more sensible wager in which we earned $150. In all, looking at only bets placed in games involving the Steelers, we earned $264.41.

It’s been a very fun season placing wagers on games. I hope you all enjoyed the activity and learned a little bit more along the way about how sports betting works. Also, it was a very safe environment in which no real money was gained or lost. For those who believe they are now ready to conquer the world of sports betting, I would remind everyone that placing a bet with no real consequence is completely different than making the decision when real money is involved. So let’s take our nice winnings of “BTSC Bucks” and call it a victory.