Las Vegas Oddsmakers Express Frustration Over Lamar Jackson Injury Change

It was terrible timing for a story John Harbaugh called ‘an honest mistake,’ as those running the books were scrambling to update the Ravens-Bears line.

Lamar Jackson was on the sideline as the Ravens faced the Bears in Week 8. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

NFL bettors and Las Vegas oddsmakers were frustrated with how the Ravens handled Lamar Jackson’s injury status for Sunday’s home game against the Bears. 

On Friday, the public was convinced Jackson was on track to return to the field after the team listed him as a full participant on the final injury report. But the Ravens then ruled out Jackson a day later, saying he would miss his third consecutive game due to a hamstring injury. 

That, of course, didn’t sit well with Ravens bettors, many of whom took Baltimore as a touchdown favorite. The betting line immediately went from Ravens -7 to -2.5 at most Vegas sportsbooks after the late QB switch.

“I was pretty surprised by it,” said John Murray, vice president of race and sports at the Westgate SuperBook. “We had respected bettors laying -6.5 on Friday. That made me feel confident Lamar would play.”

In the end, it worked out for Ravens bettors because backup Tyler Huntley filled in admirably for Jackson and guided Baltimore to a 30–16 victory over Chicago. Derrick Henry had a rushing touchdown with 2:09 left, which held up as the final score of the day, to avoid the dreaded push against the spread. Caleb Williams’s fourth-quarter interception didn’t provide much hope for those who ended up betting on the Bears after the QB change for Baltimore. 

This was the worst possible time for the NFL to have one of its teams potentially violate the league’s policy on injury reports, given the gambling scandal that rocked the NBA earlier this week, which includes allegations related to using inside information about injuries in an attempt to manipulate prop bets. Baltimore released a statement to provide some clarity, saying the team decided to update the injury report because Jackson didn’t take any reps with the starters, spending all of Friday’s practice with the backups. 

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Lamarr Mitchell, the executive director of trading for MGM Resorts/BetMGM, said his Ravens bettors were upset because many placed their bets when Baltimore was laying a touchdown. The tickets ratio was two-to-one Ravens earlier in the week at BetMGM. Bears money poured in after the Ravens ruled out Jackson and named Huntley the starter.

“It can be frustrating, but injuries are part of the equation,” Mitchell said. “Of course, we would prefer to have the info in real-time situation, but in this case, we didn’t. Options would be to leave the game off the board until game day. This would help bettors and bookmakers alike, so they have up-to-date info.” 

“It really is an honest mistake,” Harbaugh told reporters after the win. “I can tell you this, nobody is trying to hide anything. There’s no advantage to be gained with that. He practiced, his status was what it was, he was questionable. … We weren’t going to say out because he wasn’t out until Saturday when that conversation was had on the medical side.”

This situation could have been a lot worse, but it didn’t end up mattering which quarterback the Ravens started. There was no advantage for the Bears, as it turned out. 

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