Gambling website likes UK over Louisville in season-long rivalry bet
How much better should Kentucky football be than Louisville in 2019? One betting site has a guess.
Bet Online, an offshore gambling site, favors Kentucky over Louisville as part of its “rivalry win spread” bets, a first-year offering from the site aimed at highlighting college football’s biggest rivalries.
The regular-season win spread over/under for UK-U of L was set at 3.5. What does that mean? If you bet Kentucky (again, the favorite), the Wildcats would have to finish with at least four more wins than Louisville for you to win the bet. If UK finished 8-4 in the regular season and U of L finished 4-8, you’d win; if UK finished 8-4 and U of L finished 5-7, those who bet on U of L would win.
Early money for that bet has favored Louisville; it’ll cost $125 to bet the Cardinals at +3.5 to win $100. UK at -3.5 is +105 (meaning you’d win $105 for every $100 you bet). Given the placement of the Governor’s Cup bout as the regular-season finale for both teams, there could be opportunity for that game to decide this wager.
Several other SEC teams have rivalry bets listed: Alabama’s favored at 3.5 wins over Auburn and 4.5 wins against Tennessee. Georgia’s favored in three rivalries: 2.5 wins over Florida, 3.5 over Auburn and 6.5 over Georgia Tech. Florida is favored by 1.5 wins over Florida State, Tennessee is thought to be 1.5 wins better than Vanderbilt and Mississippi State was put 3.5 wins ahead of Mississippi.
Only two rivalry bets involving SEC teams favored a non-SEC opponent: Clemson over South Carolina (5.5 wins) and Texas over Texas A&M (1.5 wins).
UK’s over/under for wins this season is at 6.5 on the same site. Louisville’s over/under win total on the site is 3.5. Most bettors have favored the over for both programs.
Louisville is not listed among the teams you can bet to win the College Football Playoff championship, but Kentucky is; the Wildcats are the biggest long shot listed at +50000.
This story was originally published July 22, 2019 at 11:35 PM.
