Sportsbooks Sitting on Hawks Championship Wagers – How Much Are They Set to Lose if Atlanta Wins the NBA Title?

• The Atlanta Hawks have the big sportsbooks worried as many took bets on ATL at long odds to win the title
• Sportsbooks had a majority of money on now-eliminated L.A. Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets
• Atlanta is now +650 after being +5500 a week ago, learn more about the situation in the marketplace below

Bad news for the sportsbooks in the legalized U.S. sports gambling industry has been in short supply. Their stocks are soaring, they are saturating the airwaves with commercials and they are slowly but surely becoming mainstream.

And although they have made a fortune thanks to the failures of the Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers, their profits could take a haircut if the road warrior Atlanta Hawks can knock off another Goliath and defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Hawks and their precocious star, Trae Young, already defeated the New York Knicks in the first round, winning twice at Madison Square Garden, and then defeated the No. 1 seeded Philadelphia 76ers 4-3 in the second round on the strength of three road victories.

Wednesday’s 116-113 victory came on the road in Milwaukee, with Young scoring a career-high 48 points. Still, Atlanta’s NBA Championship odds remain longer than those of Milwaukee and Phoenix.

2021 NBA Championship Odds

Odds as of June 24th

How Much Are the Sportsbooks Exposed?

Exact numbers are an industry secret, of course, but sportsbooks are very good at speaking in generalities. Different books are strong in different areas, depending upon geographic variables related to where they are licensed. And all of them took heavy money on the Nets, Sixers and Lakers.

Prior to the Eastern Conference Finals series opener, BetMGM took 91 percent of its handle on Milwaukee, including a $250,000 wager to win $50,000 on the Bucks at -500 and a $950,000 wager the Bucks to win the series. That one would pay $190,000.

The four remaining teams total 21.7 of BetMGM’s NBA Championship handle, with 2.7 percent of handle and 3.8 percent of tickets on Atlanta. The Suns account for 5.3 percent, the Bucks 6.0 percent and the Clippers 7.7.

“The Hawks remain the sportsbook’s only liability on NBA Championship odds,”  said Jason Scott, vice president of trading at BetMGM.

That’s because they never saw a guy with this type of moxie coming…

WITH THE SHIMMY. pic.twitter.com/h6SmlIoB4U

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) June 24, 2021

What Are Some of the More Lucrative Open Hawks Bets?

FanDuel spokesman Kevin Hennessey said one Bally’s AC customer placed $8,000 on the Hawks to Win the NBA Championship outright at +10,000 only 10 days ago.

On Jan. 27, one day after losing to the Brooklyn Nets and going to 9-9 on the year, one user placed $50 on the Hawks to win the Eastern Conference at +6500, which was the biggest price struck on the Hawks, Hennessey said.

Jeff Sherman of LV Sportsbook said someone put $2,500 on the Hawks at 200-11 and then came back and added another $5,000 at 80-1 two weeks ago.

“That is a big liability for us, and we are a small ship, unlike BetMGM or DraftKings of anyone like that,” Sherman said. “So we have a different perspective from that standpoint.”

Currently, FanDuel reports that the Hawks have received 85% of the single bets placed to win the Eastern Conference Championship in the outright winner market. Also, the Hawks are the most popular team by bet count in the NBA Finals Winner outright market since Sunday.

Hennessey would not disclose how much of a financial impact a Hawks championship win would cost FanDuel, but it will not hurt too much. Its parent company, Flutter Entertainment, was trading at $99.90 at this afternoon on the over the counter market. It was at $38.19 on March 20, 2020.

Also, all of the books made money on the Hawks-Knicks and Hawks-Sixers series because those teams drew heavy action from costumers in New Jersey (where many New Yorkers wager) and Pennsylvania. Sports gambling is not legal in Georgia.

Trae Young joined an ELITE club last night ❄️

He tied LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for the most points scored in a postseason game in NBA history before turning 23. pic.twitter.com/vVHFt9ms1q

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) June 24, 2021

Are People Now Betting the Hawks Hard?

Quite the contrary, even though the Hawks became the first team in NBA history to win three Game 1s on the road. (Nobody had put up up a prop bet on that prior to the playoffs. So look for a Trae Young-inspired prop bet like that a year from now.)

PointsBet spokesman Wyatt Yearout said lots of money is now coming in on the Bucks.

“Something of note is the adjustment of splits after the Hawks’ Game 1 victory. Heading into last night, the Hawks were taking over 90% of bets and handle in the series market,” Yearout said Thursday. “With the Bucks adjusting to -215 after going down 0-1, we’ve seen a surge in bets on the Bucks since last night, with now only 69% of bets on Atlanta, and Milwaukee now taking 65% of handle.”

Heading into the playoffs, the Hawks were 9^th in both bet count and handle to win the title. However, due to the length of odds throughout the season, they are currently PointsBet’s second biggest liability in the NBA futures market behind the Suns.

So in terms of big payouts, there are a few of them here and there. But at the end of the day, the books will win big. Even DraftKings can easily absorb this one:

May 3rd, 2021: A bettor put $20,000 on the Atlanta Hawks to win the Eastern Conference and $20,000 on them to win the NBA title.

June 10, 2021: Then they doubled down and put $10,000 more on each bet!

Over $3 MILLION in potential payouts on the Hawks 😳 pic.twitter.com/lf131w6oDl

— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) June 21, 2021