The New Orleans Pelicans aren't necessarily the best team on the planet, but at home, they're rather reliable against the spread.
Plus, with Louisiana online sports betting launching on Friday morning, why not launch a few floats on a scrappy underdog?
The Pelicans are seventh-best in the NBA against the spread at home.
They're 13-8-1, ahead of elite teams like the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz.
So, betting their point spread at home has paid dividends all season.
And with the number of big money promotions heading your way — if you're in Louisiana — the Pelicans' spread at home may be a reasonable longterm investment.
Read below for a list of promotions in anticipation of Louisiana's sports gambling launch.
Caesars in particular is giving away up to $3,300 in bonus money with a deposit of $3,000. That play-through only requires you to bet through $3,300 in bonus money in order to withdraw whatever remains in your account. That means you can hit roughly 50% of your bets and bring home a total profit of about $3,300 if you deposit $3,000.
Six sportsbooks have confirmed that they will launch in Louisiana on Friday at 8 a.m. CT.
- DraftKings (confirmed)
- FanDuel (confirmed)
- Caesars (confirmed)
- BetMGM (confirmed)
- BetRivers (confirmed)
- Barstool Sportsbook (confirmed)
Generally, betting the Pelicans game to game — namely, spreads for home games — is the way to go. Their futures bets have little to no value.
In fact, many of the aforementioned sportsbooks actually have better odds for the Pelicans to win the Western Conference as opposed to the Southwest Division, which they trail by 13.5 games as of Thursday, Jan. 27. That's more of a slight oversight than anything else, but it reflects that the books give the Pelicans almost zero chance of nabbing either title.
For reference, below are the Pelicans' odds to win the NBA Championship, Western Conference and Southwest Division at Louisiana's three main sportsbooks.
New Orleans Pelicans Odds to win Southwest Division
| Sportsbook | Odds |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | +24000 |
| DraftKings | +100000 |
| Caesars | +50000 |
As you'll see with the following chart, DraftKings and Caesars give the Pelicans better odds to win the Western Conference than they do for the division.
New Orleans Pelicans Odds to win Western Conference
| Sportsbook | Odds |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | +50000 |
| DraftKings | +70000 |
| Caesars | +40000 |
Hilariously, the Pelicans have 100% better value to win the division at DraftKings than they do of winning the NBA Championship at FanDuel.
New Orleans Pelicans Odds to win NBA Championship
| Sportsbook | Odds |
|---|---|
| FanDuel | +50000 |
| DraftKings | +100000 |
| Caesars | +75000 |
This is a long-winded way of saying the best way to bet the Pelicans is when they're home underdogs. It happens a lot, and when they do, they've been found to be undervalued.
Especially when they play the popular teams in the NBA — the Lakers, Jazz, Nets and Warriors come to mind — the Pelicans don't get enough respect in the market. And the public loves those aforementioned teams, overrating them in the process.
Betting on the Pelicans in those situations yields dividends in the longterm. Just don't bet on their futures.
