The new format for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game produced an exciting game for viewers, but it was a stressful contest for bettors.

Because of the Elam Ending, which resulted in the teams having a target score of 157 to win in the fourth quarter, Team Giannis and Team LeBron played the final quarter with incredible intensity, and bettors and bookmakers had reasons to sweat late in the game.

In the end, Team LeBron won 157-155, Team Giannis covered the spread and the over hit, but none of those were easy wins for fans of NBA betting.

With both teams playing to 157, bettors on both sides of the total were still alive late, which was as high as 308 at William Hill. Under bettors hoped one team would pull away while over bettors were hoping for a close finish to help exceed the total.

The over hitting resulted in a six-figure loss for William Hill, according to director of trading Nick Bogdanovich.

“We needed under; that’s not new,” he said. “I have a feeling that half the people who bet it didn’t even know about the rule change, they were just betting because they bet over.”

In theory, the under would have been more likely to hit than usual because there was a cap on scoring in the fourth quarter. The Elam Ending rules meant that the leading team after three quarters, which was Team Giannis, just had to score 24 points in the fourth quarter.

Instead, Team LeBron mounted a comeback and scored 33 points in the fourth compared to 22 points for Team Giannis and that 55 total points in the fourth quarter helped push it over the total.

“It looked like we had a shot (at the under) at one point, but the wrong team got to the mark first,” Bogdanovich said.

PointsBet also offered a unique fourth-quarter total of 49.5 points with the new scoring system.

William Hill made some money back thanks to Team Giannis +6.5 covering as bettors preferred Team LeBron.

“There was quite a bit of action,” Bogdanovich said of the game.

At PointsBet, 66% of spread tickets and 58% of the handle were on Team LeBron -6. The total wasn’t a huge decision with 58% of tickets and 53% of the handle on the under, which opened at 298.5 and rose to 305.5.

PointsBet made some money on the MVP betting as their top liabilities were Luka Doncic +1200, LeBron James +375 and Ben Simmons +3300. Kawhi Leonard won the MVP at +1500.

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XFL Betting Still Solid

Bogdanovich said bettors continued to wager on the XFL in Week 2 of the new league, and the handle was about the same as the previous week.

Three of the four games went under the total, and two of the underdogs covered.

At DraftKings, the Dallas Renegades -4 were the favorite team for bettors with 82% of the handle in their game against the Los Angeles Wildcats. Dallas won 25-18.

Baseball Action Heats Up

With spring training starting this week, FanDuel shared some popular future baseball bets, and to this point, MLB bettors like both New York teams.

FanDuel reports 56% of the World Series handle is on the Yankees at +375. The Yankees are the favorite after adding ace Gerrit Cole in free agency.

The Mets are drawing the second most action with 10% of the handle at +2100, followed by the Dodgers +430 at 7% and the Phillies +2100 at 4%.

FanDuel also has some props for Cole in his first year with the Yankees. His win total is listed at 17.5 with 62% of the handle on over whole bettors like the under on his season strikeout total of 280.5 with 84% of bets and 85% of the handle on the low side. Cole had 326 strikeouts and 20 wins for the Astros last year.

Notable Bets

• A FanDuel bettor in Indiana turned $1 into a $14,700 payout on Tuesday by winning a 15-team parlay on college basketball games, correctly betting the total in 14 of them.
• A DraftKings bettor had an eight-leg parlay spread across three days of NHL, NCAA basketball and NBA games, and it was worth the wait as the $131.19 wager paid out more than $17,000.
• Another DraftKings bettor made a killing on golf with a $300 bet on Adam Scott to win the Genesis Invitational, which paid $10,800.

• A William Hill bettor won more than $1,600 on a $5 four-leg NHL parlay.