Is There A Bias Behind Sports Betting On NFL Home Teams?

Hometown sports betting bias is real as regulated sportsbooks have seen a number of wagers on NFL teams in their state with horrible odds and records.
The Detroit Lions, who went 5-11 last season, have equated to 90% of all sports bets for their win totals this upcoming season now that Michigan has regulated sports betting.
The New York Jets have seen a number of bets placed on them in New Jersey and New York, despite the team winning just two games last year.

DETROIT – The most successful sports bettors in history have always gambled on the side of statistics and won but there is something to be said about home team bias when it comes to betting on sporting events. No matter how bad a team is, fans always seem to wager on the home team because that old song of “This will be their year!” despite what the odds and statistics say about them is sung.

The Correlation Between Home Team Wagers And Regulated Sportsbooks

The Detroit Lions are a current prime example of hometown bias when gambling on sporting events. Michigan is now home to a regulated sports betting industry and suddenly, with the 2021-2022 NFL preseason in full swing, wagers on the Lions are flooding sportsbooks in the state.

Detroit went 5-11 last year, finishing last in the NFC North. Yet NFL betting on the team is already flourishing in the state. BetMGM accepted two bets on the Lions; one for $500 that have Detroit winning the Super Bowl with odds of (+25000) when the wager was placed and the other bet was for $1000 for the Lions to be the NFC Champions this season at odds of (+10,000).

These two Michigan BetMGM bets would pay out $125,000 and $100,000, respectively.

Over 90% of all bets taken in Michigan thus far are for the Lions and their win totals.

It could be said that the Lions may be better than most sportsbooks and fans of football believe them to be but the most plausible explanation is a combination of factors that include people loving a good underdog and people loving their home teams. No amount of statistical information can change the mind of a sports bettor when they’ve got that equation in their head for gambling on sports. And now that Michigan sports betting is a regulated industry, it’s easy to see how diehard their fans really are.

Michigan Is Not The Only State For This Type Of Betting

Colorado, New York, and Pennsylvania are all seeing large wagers put down on their NFL home teams. But what do all of these states have in common? Hit or miss football teams, huge fanbases for these organizations despite their previous performances, and regulated sports betting industries. While it’s not the most successful way to go about wagering on sports, it’s one of the biggest ways for sports bettors to wager nationwide.

The correlation is there, home teams, fan bases, mediocre teams, and local sportsbooks. But should any of these wagers win, it’s that much sweeter for those that bet on them, making the home team bias not such a bad thing because in the end home is where the heart is.

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Christina Monroe

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kart…the N64 version of course.