Penn State Scandal Driving Public Betting Interest
The scandal at Penn State has not only dominated news coverage for the last week, but it has also increased interest from sports bettors.
At the time of publication, the Nebraska/Penn State game has received almost 40% more action (in terms of total number of bets) than any other game on Saturday’s board, including the matchup between Oregon and Stanford, who are currently ranked seventh and fourth in the BCS Standings, respectively.
The table below compares the betting trends data and line movement for these two games, which are the two most heavily bet college football games of the weekend.
| Game | # Bets |
Spread % | Current |
Open |
| Nebraska at Penn State |
14,549 | 79% | -3 (-115) | -2.5 |
| 21% | +3 (-105) | +2.5 | ||
| Oregon at Stanford |
9,335 | 51% | +3 (-105) | +3.5 |
| 49% | -3 (-115) | -3.5 |
* Number of Bets and Spread Betting Percentages reflect Sports Insights’ College Football Betting Trends Data.
** Olympic’s lines were used for Current and Opening Lines.
The line history graph below shows how the spread betting trends and betting system plays have affected line movement for this game at Pinnacle.
Bob Colucci
11/11/2011 at 9:20 pmI have a question concerning the your article about the Penn St/Neb game. The article you posted says the scandal is driving public interest in the game. Within the article it shows a chart with the info that the Penn St./Neb. game has garnered 14,549 wagers at the time of the article being submitted. I am now on the site and the Penn St games is only representing 6,848 wagers being placed on it. What gives ??
James
11/18/2011 at 6:38 pmHi there, THANKS for your comment. It looks like there was a data glitch — but the Penn St game WAS one of the heaviest-bet games of the day.