NFL Week 16 Betting Activity Slumps, Says Morgan Stanley

Week 16 NFL betting activity declined significantly relative to the prior quadruplet weeks, transmittable sportsbook operators and some marketplace observers by surprise.

GeoComply sports betting information aggregated by Henry Morgan John Rowlands indicates year-over-year ontogenesis inward NFL handgrip was simply 58 percent. Growth is good, but the Week 16 enter compares with upticks of 100 percent, 107 percent, 96 percent, and 80 percent, respectively, inward Weeks 12 through 15.

December summate games played inward major US leagues has been scheduled to prove 119 percent year-over-year, and more games should uphold to back up warm hebdomadal loudness development through January, barring omicron-driven cancellations,” says Daniel Morgan John Rowlands analyst St. Thomas Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen inward a annotation to clients.

News of the Week 16 lassitude comes as shares of sportsbook operators are limping into year-end after existence drubbed over the course of instruction of this NFL season.

Excuses Galore

There’s no shortage of excuses and theories regarding why NFL betting activity retreated lowest week, including Xmas falling on a Saturday.

Some market observers and wagering experts are speculating that bettors took a stair rearward from the NFL because the coronavirus is forcing a slew of players, including starters and, inward some cases, Pro Bowl-level players, to miss games. Players missing games — inward some cases on little notice — is seen as a deterrent to sharp and recreational bettors alike. Professional bettors appear to avoid the heightened variance that comes with to a greater extent second-string players participating inwards a game, piece ordinary bicycle bettors mightiness follow inclined to avoid games lacking asterisk power.

Potentially compounding those woes for some operators, particularly DraftKings and FanDuel, are rumors that marquee NFL players missing games because of contracting COVID-19, or because of the league’s wellness and refuge protocols, is leading to declining involvement inward day-to-day fantasise sports (DFS).

Situation Could Linger

In a banner operating environment, the quaternary quarter should follow a geological period of heightened activity for sportsbook operators, as the NFL playoff race tightens and the NBA and college basketball game seasons in replete(p) swing.

However, nearly ii years into the coronavirus pandemic, the electric current province of affairs for leagues and sportsbook operators is anything but normal. Some of the ahead of time season betting enthusiasm is clearly gone, thanks inward large component part to COVID-19.

On Monday, 96 NFL players tested positive for the virus, and 106 were added to the league’s reserve/COVID-19 listing – both records.

Further frustrative sportsbooks and bettors, the NHL has suffered through postponed games. College basketball game games are also oft canceled or postponed, NBA stars are missing games because of that league’s protocols and, thus far, quaternary college bowl games were canceled because of the pandemic.

All of that is relevant to sportsbook operators, because football game and hoops are the 2 to the highest degree wagered-on sports inwards the US.