Sharp money pours in on one side of Raiders-Bills game

On the surface, the Raiders are in a tough scheduling spot Sunday.

They are playing across the country at Buffalo for Sunday’s 10 a.m. early body clock game against a Bills team coming off an ugly loss to the Jets on Monday night.

“There’s a lot of things working against them in this game,” Westgate SuperBook oddsmaker Ed Salmons said. “You expect the Bills to clean that mess up that they had on Monday night and give a much better showing.

“When you go to Buffalo, it’s easy to get down early. It’s such a tough spot having to play at 10 in the morning, especially after playing in Denver and having to go through a lot of time zones in eight days.”

Despite the spot, sharp bettors are all over the Raiders, who beat the Broncos 17-16 in Week 1 and opened as high as 10-point underdogs to the Bills before the line dropped to 8 at most sportsbooks.

“Wise guys took +10, +9 and this morning took +8.5,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews said Friday in a text message.

MGM Resorts director of trading Lamarr Mitchell said BetMGM took sharp money on the Raiders +9½, and Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said Station Casinos also has seen sharp play on the Silver and Black plus the points.

“There is sharp and public play on the Raiders so far,” Esposito said. “I think it’s more of a product of the Bills and their inability to protect the ball more than anything else. There just seems to be something off with the team, which we all felt was one of the best in football the last couple of years. But they haven’t been able to get to the next level.”

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen had four turnovers, including three interceptions, in Monday’s 22-16 overtime loss at New York, and he leads the league in turnovers since 2018 with 84.

“The Bills continue to turn the ball over almost at an epic pace, and our guests feel it’s a big number versus a more disciplined Raiders team trying to control the ball and the clock a bit,” Esposito said.

The total is 47 after both teams went under the number in Week 1, and the Raiders are +330 on the money line at Circa Sports.

The Raiders lead the ticket count by a 3-1 margin at BetMGM, and the money is 10-1 in favor of the Silver and Black. The Raiders also lead the ticket count at Station and the SuperBook.

“There’s more tickets on the Raiders than the Bills, which is kind of interesting when you look at an 8-point spread on the NFL. That almost never happens,” SuperBook director John Murray said. “Part of that is because the Raiders are the local team and also because the Raiders are coming off a nice win and Buffalo looked so horrible on offense Monday.

“It seems a little extreme, but the Bills really need to win this game. They don’t want to fall to 0-2. They’re in a very good division. There’s a little bit of pressure on Buffalo in this game.”

Circa oddsmaker Dylan Sullivan said it’s not an overreaction to project the Bills to regress from last season’s 13-3 record.

“The Bills were a team that looked bad, and I think they might be in actual trouble,” he said. “I don’t think they will be terrible, but they could end up taking a step back from last season.”

Professional sports bettor Jeff Whitelaw, a Buffalo native, still leans to the Bills in this one.

“Typically, this is a good spot for the team coming home to bounce back off of the loss,” he said. “I think the Bills blow them out.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.