North Carolina-Kentucky hoops thriller was a hotter Vegas bet than some NFL games
With bowl season heating up and the push for the NFL playoffs in full-swing, it’s hard for college hoops to gain much traction this time of year. But there are the rare exceptions, and North Carolina and Kentucky on Saturday certainly counted as one.
The game – a 103-100 thriller won by Kentucky – turned out to hit a number of high-water marks for college basketball interest and coverage. With over 3.6 million viewers, it was the highest-rated college hoops game of the year and topped any number put up last regular season as well.
https://twitter.com/KySportsRadio/status/811240701946105856
If you want to know the impact of the game, check this out: According to an ESPN article published on Tuesday, Kentucky-UNC drew more bets in Vegas this weekend than many NFL games.
Every sports book varied, but at least one had the college matchup outperforming every NBA game.
Jason Simbal, vice president of sportsbook operator CG Technology, said only the NFL game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets and two bowl games, including the Las Vegas Bowl between Houston and San Diego State, generated more betting handle than Kentucky-North Carolina on Saturday.
"We did more money on that than any NBA [game]," Simbal said. "It was a really, really heavily bet game for us."
