{"id":621144,"date":"2026-04-22T13:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621144\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:54:11","slug":"bookmakers-brace-for-nfl-draft-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/621144\/","title":{"rendered":"Bookmakers Brace for NFL Draft Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Posted on: April 22, 2026, 07:52h.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Last updated on: April 22, 2026, 07:52h.\n <\/p>\n

\"Avatar <\/p>\n

NFL Draft set for 8 p.m. EST Thursday in Pittsburgh, on ESPN, ABC
\nQB Mendoza -20000 to go to the Vegas Raiders at No. 1 overall
\nBettors like Edge Arvell Reese to go No. 1<\/p>\n

There\u2019s never a dull moment on NFL Draft night for bookmakers, said Johnny Avello<\/a>, DraftKings Director of Race & Sports Operations.<\/p>\n

\"\"A general view of the stage as the Atlanta Falcons pick during the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft at Lambeau Field in April 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Image: Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)
\nMendoza No. 1?<\/p>\n

This Thursday in Pittsburgh will be no different \u2013 the trades, the last-minute surprise picks.<\/p>\n

The New York Giants got an early jump, trading DE Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, with the Bengals\u2019 first round pick (10thoverall) going to the Giants \u2013 giving New York the fifth and 10th pick in the draft now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the difficult part of doing it,\u201d said Avello. \u201cThis is all information based, so we really need to stay on top of it. We\u2019re doing a much better job than we\u2019ve ever done the past few years. I think we have a better handle on it. Those trades are going to happen, some before the draft, some during the draft. We\u2019re going to be doing in-play wagering during the draft, staying ahead three picks.<\/p>\n

Lawrence Trade Impacts Betting Lines<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, the staff just has to be very aware, not only the day of, but leading up to it, scouring the internet, looking for any information we can find, late breaking news.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like there have been betting markets on the NFL Draft going back decades. Avello said it really only cranked up a decade ago.<\/p>\n

I go back to my days when I was booking UFC, college lacrosse, a lot of different sports that were new in the booking world,\u201d said Avello. \u201cAnd even though I could make a line on it, my lines got stronger as I continued to do it. And I think that\u2019s the same with the NFL Draft. We just get better as we continue to keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettors Like Reese<\/p>\n

Sometimes the first overall pick is uncertain \u2013 just not this year, with the Las Vegas Raiders expected to take QB Fernando Mendoza<\/a> with the first overall pick (-20000 at DraftKings).<\/p>\n

At theScore Bet, Mendoza is getting 13.8% of bets, and 51.4% of handle, to go first overall. Edge Arvell Reese is seeing the most betting action to go No. 2 (46.8% of bets, 67.8% of handle), edge David Bailey to go No. 3 (21.9% of bets, 33.8% of handle), running back Jeremiyah Love to go No. 4 (21.7% of bets, 43.6% of handle), and LB Sonny Styles to go No. 5 (11.9% of bets, 26.4% of handle).<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Caesars, we\u2019re excited for the NFL Draft to kick off this Thursday, as it signals that we\u2019re that much closer to the start of the NFL season,\u201d said Joey Feazel, Head of Football at Caesars Sportsbook. \u201cOur trading team has been locked in over the past few weeks, combing through the latest rumors, reports, and team intel to fine-tune our draft markets.<\/p>\n

More Trade Activity?<\/p>\n

We anticipated trade activity heading into draft week, and we got our first major move over the weekend with the Bengals acquiring Dexter Lawrence from the Giants in exchange for the 10th overall pick. While the deal didn\u2019t have a material impact on either team\u2019s futures prices, it did shake up several draft-related markets.<\/p>\n

Feazel said the most notable movement came at the wide receiver position. Jordyn Tyson headlined a workout last week that drew more than 20 teams, and with the Giants now holding an additional top 10 selection, the market reacted swiftly.<\/p>\n

Surge of Betting on Tyson<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a surge of action on Tyson to be drafted inside the top 10, making it the biggest adjustment following the trade. As a result, his odds moved significantly, shifting from -160 to -375,\u201d said Feazel.<\/p>\n

Avello pointed to Reese and Bailey as two players seeing a lot of betting action at DraftKings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Giants probably go for defence, on at least one of those picks, and then maybe on offensive line,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo and three are interesting. With Bailey and Reese, those two guys have flip flopped back and forth. So we have money both ways, with Bailey two or Reese two.<\/p>\n

\u201cMendoza was bet as the No. 1 pick, going way back. That\u2019s the first thing we put up. That\u2019s going back three or four months. He\u2019s such a big favourite now, but when we had it up, he was actually a decent price. I think he was maybe even 40\/1 or something, but that was way before he was locked in as the No. 1 pick. There\u2019s been money on Jeremiyah Love moving up to the third spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

BetMGM Insights<\/p>\n

At BetMGM this morning, the betting stats reflect what other sportsbooks are seeing. Mendoza is the betting favourite to go No. 1, at -10000 (with the highest ticket percentage at 51.7% and the highest handle at 54.3%, with the biggest liability being Ty Simpson). At No. 2, the favourite is Reese at -400 (Bailey is generating the highest ticket percentage at 21.1%, Reese the highest handle at 37.2%, with Love the biggest liability).<\/p>\n

At No. 3, the betting favourite is Bailey at +100 (Love is generating the highest ticket percentage, at 15.8%, highest handle at 31.1%, and is the biggest liability there).<\/p>\n

Love is the betting favourite to go at No. 4, at -135, followed by Styles to go in the fifth slot (+175).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Posted on: April 22, 2026, 07:52h.\u00a0 Last updated on: April 22, 2026, 07:52h. NFL Draft set for 8…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,25999,233198,1044,82,6452],"class_list":{"0":"post-621144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-betting","12":"tag-nfl-betting-odds","13":"tag-nfl-draft","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sports-betting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}