Lionel Messi, Inter Miami consensus betting favorites in MLS - ESPN

When Lionel Messi made the fateful decision to join Inter Miami CF last season, it not only instantly elevated the game of his new club, but also immensely raised the profile of 30-year-old Major League Soccer.

So it should come as little surprise that the American sports betting industry, another emerging entity, saw huge action surrounding the all-time soccer great and his squad in South Florida. Chris Schlosser, MLS' senior vice president of emerging ventures, told ESPN that the league saw record betting handle last year with «really nice growth across the major books» from 2022 to 2023.

Last summer, Messi — along with former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets — arrived in Miami to a team that was at the bottom of the league standings and would need a minor miracle to make it into the MLS Cup playoffs, which it ultimately failed to do.

Going into 2024, Messi & Co. brought in another former Barça superstar, Luis Suárez, to bolster what is now the undisputed most-talented team in the league. It has Inter Miami sitting as the clear-cut favorites to win MLS Cup this season, showing odds of +300 at ESPN BET, with some shops offering odds as short as +250.

BetMGM has a league-leading 15.1% of its MLS futures tickets on the Herons, while DraftKings reports an eye-popping 83% of bets and 81% of handle. Anticipating the hype around Messi's squad, DraftKings' director of race and sportsbook operations Johnny Avello and his team claim that they released MLS Cup futures before anyone else on the sports betting market.

«Last year when Messi came to Miami, they really had no chance to win it all, very slim chance,» Avello said. «We took a bunch of action on them even at that point. So, yeah, I'm not surprised.»

Inte