Inside Thanksgiving at the sportsbooks: NFL, college action fuel the handle - ESPN

The opportunity to gather with friends and family, eat loads of food and celebrate the spirit of gratitude makes Thanksgiving a treasured holiday in the United States. But the biggest attraction for most sports fans is the day's NFL slate, with the week surrounding it also offering up a heaping helping of tremendous action from across the sports landscape.

Between the NFL's traditional Thanksgiving games and more recent Black Friday games, college football Rivalry Week, college basketball Feast Week, MLS Cup playoffs, as well as full NHL and NBA slates, Thanksgiving week is one of the biggest sports betting weeks of the year, with multiple sportsbooks reporting it as one of their highest handle weeks on the calendar.

«While numbers vary annually, this stretch easily rivals other marquee periods like NFL Week 1, the opening rounds of March Madness, NFL Wild Card Weekend paired with the College Football Playoff semifinals, and divisional weekend alongside the national championship,» Caesars Sportsbook's head of football Joey Feazel told ESPN via email. «It's a week that keeps the sportsbook buzzing and one we anticipate all year long.»

The presence of all the other sports is nothing to scoff at, but the NFL is still king on Thanksgiving, as it tends to be throughout the fall and winter.

In 2024, the NFL commanded 79% of the handle during Thanksgiving week, well outpacing college basketball (13%) in second and college football (5%) in third, according to BetMGM data. The book also notes that all three Thanksgiving games ranked in the top 20% of the most-bet NFL games of the year, including playoffs.

«It's always a very popular week and, specifically talking to NFL, those Thanksgiving games often are some of the most-bet-on