The more teams keep losing to the Baltimore Orioles, the more likely it is sportsbooks end up as massive losers too.
Once thought to be among the worst teams in baseball, Baltimore has surged up the standings in recent weeks. And they caught the attention of bettors on the way—becoming the most profitable team to wager on.
At the start of June, the Orioles had 500-1 odds to win the World Series at Tipico Sportsbook, tied for the longest in all of baseball. On Wednesday, those odds were down to 200-1 — still long, but now tied with two teams ahead of 10 others. That movement coincides with a push from nine games under .500 on July 2 to a 46-46 record entering the All-Star break, including a 10-game winning streak. It’s made them a seven-figure liability for sportsbooks, according to a report from ESPN’s David Purdham.
After already taking bets on the Orioles at odds as long as 2,000-1, Caesars Sportsbook took a $1,000 bet in July on the Orioles at 500-1 to win the World Series and a separate $1,000 bet on them to win the AL at 250-1. The public is backing the Orioles on a game-by-game basis too after previously betting their opponents about 90% of the time in April and May, the report cited from DraftKings.
“In April and May, along with the A’s and Reds, [the Orioles] were one of the teams that we were just rooting for on a daily basis,” Caesars lead baseball trader Eric Biggio said in the report. “We knew we were going to need that team to win in order to have a decent day. Now, it’s flipped.”
