Bing bong! Online sports betting in New York is officially authorized as of 1/8/2021. In response to New York’s Independence Day, Sam from One Last Line will be issuing a daily special edition until January 31st.
As a resident of New York, I had the opportunity to capitalize on several promos from the plethora of sports betting apps that came online Saturday. One of the promos I noticed was an offer from Caesars Sportsbook: they are offering a $150 e-gift card to the NBA Store to purchase a jersey of your choice. In order to qualify, you must bet $100+ in cumulative wagers on the NBA from now until January 31st. If you don’t already know, I am a huge Memphis Grizzlies fan and have been desperate for a Ja Morant jersey for a while. Thus, I saw a deal to get my Ja jersey while having some fun on NBA bets.
This daily special edition of the One Last Line blog will follow my (Sam’s) NBA picks as I attempt to place $100 on NBA wagers before January 31st, while simultaneously monitoring my success (or lack thereof). The more bets I win, the more money I will have earned from this promo. Just to clarify, here’s how the math works:
$150 (NBA Store credit) – $100 (spent on NBA bets) + $X after January 31st (won/not lost) =
$50 (NBA Store credit) + $X (won/not lost)
At the end of the day, if I lose all $100 of my bets, I will have gained $50 in NBA Store credit. If I manage to hang on to $25 after betting $100, then I will have earned $75. If I manage to hang on to $50 after betting $100, then I will have earned $100, and so on and so forth.
As an avid follower and occasional big-game bettor of NBA games, I fancy myself to have a pretty good read on teams and how/when to bet them. My previous success has mostly been driven by futures and the occasional ML bet during the playoffs. When it comes to the NFL, Yank and I sorted through some strategies and found some decent success this season (or at least a method for not being killed). But the NBA regular season is a different animal. Bets have to consider back-to-backs, 3 games in 5 nights, travel schedule, and for that matter, each individual game has less meaning than each week in the NFL does, so one must account for resting players and motivation.
I thought One Last Line would be a perfect place to catalogue this Promo and an opportunity to explore regular season NBA betting. The goal is simple: win $100 and get a totally free Ja Morant jersey! Likelihood of success: minimal.
Today’s Picks
I will get to todays picks shortly but did play a $5 bet on the Knicks against the Celtics yesterday. Of course, the Knicks lost that game. Thus, you’ll see in the image above that I have spent $5 towards the required $100, but I have not added any profit to my $50 bonus from Caesars Sportsbook. Off to a great start…
Today I have three picks on the line:
Pick #1: $3.00 Washington Wizards (@ the Orlando Magic) and Atlanta Hawks (@ the Los Angeles Clippers) Money Line Parlay +107
After considering the Bucks last night and watching my Grizzlies play the Cavs a few days ago, I realized that teams playing back to backs have a hard time. Thus, we’ll call this the Back-to-Back Money Line Parlay. Both the Clippers and the Magic are playing on the 2nd night of a back-to-back. Since I haven’t gotten a hang of the spreads yet, I am going to play this one safe-er, by picking the Hawks and Wizards to win straight up. I don’t love the way either of these teams are playing, but it’s not like their opponents spark all that much fear either.
Pick #2: $5.00 on the NBA Sunday Player Points Parlay Boost: LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan, and Karl-Anthony Towns Each Over 24.5 Points +500
This is a prop bet created by Caesars Sportsbook, so it feels like it is undoubtedly cursed, but it looked like a no-brainer to me. LeBron has been a certified bucket playing center lately and should be motivated to go up against a Grizzlies team that has beaten them recently. DeMar has been a 1st team All-NBA level player so far this season and should be a lock. And KAT is the best 3 point shooting big man in the NBA and is matched up against the Rockets that don’t have a player on their roster to stop him. I’m banking on
Pick #3: $1.00 on the Houston Rockets Money Line +240
While I don’t think this bet will hit, its worth pointing out that the Timberwolves have been super erratic. They seem somewhat dysfunctional at times because they don’t play any defense. And while the Rockets don’t have anyone to matchup with KAT, they do have a bunch of bucket getters on their team. The +240 on the ML felt like a worthy gamble for two teams that actually aren’t all that far apart in the standings.
Cheers to betting in New York and happy betting folks!
Sam Mattson
One Last Line 