Raiders kicking off wild 3-day playoff weekend for bettors

The Raiders were the last team to earn a playoff berth, and they’re favored to be the first team out of the postseason.

The Raiders are consensus 6½-point underdogs for Saturday’s Wild Card playoff opener against the Bengals in Cincinnati. The consensus total is 49½.

That game will kick off an NFL playoff feast of six games over three days.

Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito can’t wait.

“Anytime you get your home team in it, and we’ve seen the action we’ve had on Raiders games, it’s definitely a win for us,” he said.

Esposito said Red Rock was packed with its biggest Sunday night crowd of the season to watch the Raiders advance to the playoffs with a 35-32 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. He said he expects the same atmosphere — and ticket count — for Saturday’s game.

“We expect the public to back the Raiders with their hearts and pocketbooks,” he said.

Playoff lines

In Saturday’s other game, the Buffalo Bills are 4½-point home favorites in their rubber match against the AFC East rival New England Patriots (total 43½).

On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are -8½ at home against the Philadelphia Eagles (total 49), the Dallas Cowboys are -3 at home against the San Francisco 49ers (total 51), and the Kansas City Chiefs are -12½ at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers (total 46½).

Wild Card weekend ends with the first Monday playoff game, with the Los Angeles Rams -4 at home against the Arizona Cardinals (total 50).

Esposito said stretching out the weekend to three days with three prime-time games is perfect for sportsbooks.

“Anytime you have an isolated prime-time game, you have more interest, more props, more handle,” he said.

No tie (barely)

The Raiders won Sunday’s game on a 47-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson on the final play.

In a scenario that captivated NFL fans and bettors, after Indianapolis lost to Jacksonville earlier in the day, the Raiders and Chargers would have both advanced to the playoffs if the game ended in a tie.

Some sportsbooks in other states reported having big liability on a tie, but that didn’t develop in Nevada.

Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said it took strong two-way action on a tie prop with odds of 16-1 to 10-1 on the “yes,” but ended up with only a small liability.

The Westgate SuperBook did not have a tie prop, but sportsbook director John Murray said it also did not take much action on a prop on the game going to overtime.

Instead, bettors got conspiracy-minded and piled on a prop that no touchdown would be scored, envisioning a game in which the Raiders and Chargers merely punted the ball back and forth to ensure they both advanced.

The odds on the no TD prop dropped from 500-1 all the way to 100-1 by kickoff, Murray said.

“We couldn’t justify going lower than that,” Murray said via text message.

All that money went in the Westgate’s pocket at the 3:14 mark of the first quarter when Hunter Renfrow scored for the Raiders.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.