Cowboys-Eagles expected to be among most-bet regular-season games - ESPN

The NFL opener regularly turns into one of the most heavily bet regular-season games of the entire year, and Thursday's matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles is no exception.

By the time the last bet is placed on Thursday's opener, gambling experts estimate that hundreds of millions of dollars will be on the line across the nation just with U.S. sportsbooks, not including how much is in play at daily fantasy sites, prediction markets, offshore sportsbooks and with local bookmakers.

«The excitement of football returning really reignites bettors,» said Joey Feazel, who oversees football odds for Caesars Sportsbook, adding that the company nearly tripled the betting options for football in preparation for the NFL season. «Eagles-Cowboys is lining up to be the biggest bet game of the opening week thus far, and we would expect it to lead us in handle as we go through the season.»

In 2024, only the Super Bowl and two conference championship games attracted more money from bettors at DraftKings than last season's opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. ESPN BET said more bets were placed on the Ravens-Chiefs opener than any other game during the regular season, and Caesars Sportsbook said that the first two isolated games of Week 1 — Ravens-Chiefs and Packers-Eagles — both ended up in the top 10 of the most heavily bet games for the entire regular season.

Season openers in other major U.S. sports, such as the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, don't receive the same spike in interest as the first game of the NFL season, bookmakers say, partly due to the sports calendar.

Betting volume dips significantly during the summer, before taking off in September. Colorado sportsbooks reported