Hard Rock Bet Foots the Bill as NFL Bettors Enjoy Best Sunday in Years

NFL favorites crushed on Sunday and Monday of Week 9, handing Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook its second-worst Sunday-Monday stretch on record.

By the time Buffalo finished off Minnesota 23-6 on Monday night, NFL betting favorites had gone 13-1 outright across the two days. The Patriots were the only favorite to lose, falling to the Packers… but the public were on the Packers, to the tune of an even 50/50 pre-game moneyline split and 69% of the spread bets with the Pack covering.

Needless to say, this made for a lot of winning tickets. For us? Let’s just say that Hard Rock Bet players, especially bettors in the Sunshine State, had a considerably sunnier outlook than the book’s bottom line.

We got cooked: here’s where the fire started

Let’s look at some Week 9 data:

• Across all 14 games on Sunday and Monday, 82% of NFL moneyline bets cashed. That’s more than four winners for every five picks on which team would win outright.
• Chiefs vs. Jets was the costliest game for the sportsbook, with 95% of moneyline picks landing on the winner. Dolphins vs. Lions was second, with 93% cashing.
• Hard Rock Bet lost money on 12 of the 14 NFL games from Sunday and Monday.
• The two games that finished in the book’s favor were both in prime time: Bears-Buccaneers on Sunday night where the Bucs did cover, but lost late – and Vikings-Bills on Monday night.
• The NFL accounted for the entirety of the sportsbook’s loss.

The Parlays Were the Problem

A few winning favorites is manageable. A whole ticket full of them gets expensive.

NFL parlay legs paid out about $2.40 for every $1 wagered on them across Sunday and Monday.

Ouch.

Monday Night Finished the Job

Buffalo’s 23-6 win over Minnesota put the finishing touch on a lot of tickets:

86% of Sunday parlays still alive heading into Monday night ended up cashing.

The wrinkle? Monday night’s game itself wasn’t bad. The hit came from completing parlays built around Sunday’s games, with those losses attributed back to Sunday.

In essence, the games were over but the bill was still arriving.

Monday finished as a losing day overall, although only narrowly. Same-game parlays and non-NFL action helped keep it close to break-even.

A Weekend for the Record Books

Everything outside the NFL combined finished slightly in the black. Football accounted for the entire two-day loss, and then some.

Taken together, Sunday and Monday marked Hard Rock Bet’s second-worst two-day stretch on record, behind only October 13-14, 2024. The combined loss even exceeded the Sunday-Monday stretch in December 2024 capped by that memorable 40-34 Lions vs. 49ers Week 17 shootout, when seemingly everybody scored a touchdown.

Sunday alone also ranked as the book’s second-worst single day on record. The only worse day? Monday, December 30, 2024 – the day of that same Lions-49ers game.

Our Favorite NFL Tickets for Week 9

The sportsbook got smoked on parlays this weekend… so why not share some of our favorite winners?

• A 13-leg NFL moneyline and alt-spread ticket took $1,000 into $80,394.38.
  • The bettor cashed this one out late in the proceedings, but it would have earned $87.5K if left alone.
• A 20-leg college football and NFL parlay, consisting of 20 favorites, turned $276 into $109,765.09.
  • This one was cashed out early and would have paid $156.9K if seen through.
• A $10 19-leg NCAAF, NFL, NBA ticket paid out $226,867.51.
  • Notably, this player cashed out before Bears-Bucs, and would have pulled in $471K if he let it ride.
• Two different bettors hit exact score bets on the Chiefs-Jets game… yea, the one that ended 35-12. The largest turned $5 into $5,000.
• Two bettors tailed the same 9-bet anytime TD parlay, turning $50 into $47.5K, and $45 into $41.9K.
  • If you’re curious: Bijan Robinson, Tee Higgins, Kenneth Walker III, Isaiah Likely, Brock Bowers, Christian McCaffrey, Matthew Golden, Harold Fannin Jr., and Luther Burden III on SNF. Man, that 56-yard house call in the first quarter must have been electric.
• A $10, 20-bet NFL parlay including both props, spreads, and moneylines (19 of which were at minus odds), cashed for $44.4K.
• This $75 13-bet parlay made good use of a 50% profit boost, backing thirteen favorites (10 spread, 3 moneyline) to win $63.1K.
• The NFL and table tennis? Why not. 17-legs later a $117 wager nets more than $65K.
  • This one was cashed out around 1pm yesterday afternoon with just Bills moneyline remaining. It would have paid $105.9K had the bettor ridden it out.

Everyone Survived Surivor Week 9

As an added anecdote, Hard Rock Bet’s $2 Million NFL Survivor contest began the week with 11,841 players and only lost 591 total entrants – meaning 95% of the remaining players advanced to Week 10.

To all of the bettors that enjoyed a fruitful Week 9: Congrats – well played! 👏.