LAS VEGAS — Most of the college football bets for Week 1 haven't been placed yet, with one very notable exception.
News is beginning to spread around town about a bettor with some very deep pockets making some hefty wagers on Ohio State and Wisconsin this weekend.
First, this big-time punter put $30,000 on the Buckeyes -38.5 against OregonState at the South Point and then put down $10,000 on a two-team parlay with Ohio State (-38.5) and Wisconsin (-37).
"Then the guy comes back and drops $30,000 on Wisconsin straight at -37!" said Chris Andrews, the sportsbook director at the South Point.
Andrews noted that this particular player is a regular at the book.
"We weren't fazed one bit by the bet," Andrews said. "That's how this particular guy operates."
John Murray, manager at the Westgate SuperBook, confirmed Wednesday that this same bettor — who also frequents the Westgate — made some large wagers there, too.
"He parlayed Ohio State (-38.5) and Wisconsin (-37) together for $10,000," Murray told me. "And he did a straight $20,000 bet on Wisconsin at -37. It definitely sounds like he was making the rounds around Vegas on Monday and Tuesday."
For those keeping score at home, that's $100,000 total across the two books.
Nick Bogdanovich, director of trading at William Hill (located in various casinos throughout Nevada and in Atlantic City and Monmouth Park, New Jersey) told me the book took a $130,000 parlay on Wisconsin (-36.5) and Ohio State (-38.5).
Nobody could verify if it was the same individual.
"Hey, it's football season," Bogdanovich said. "People show up and do these things all the time. While it's not standard operating procedure, you see this stuff a lot."
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Washington-Auburn: This game is also getting some serious attention from bettors and bookmakers alike.
"We saw some movement with this game." Andrews said. "It opened as a pick and then went to Auburn -3, but is now back to Auburn -1.5. I expect a fair balance of money to continue to come for both sides."
Michigan-Notre Dame: According to William Hill's betting stats at the time of writing, this prime-time matchup is getting the most action there.
That game accounts for 9% of all the money wagered on college football at William Hill, and it's producing 10% of all the tickets written.
Washington-Auburn is second, accounting for 7% of money wagered and 8% of the total number of tickets written.
While none of the books expects to see heavy public betting until the end of this week, all three sportsbook managers acknowledged heavier-than-expected action on this past weekend's games, which was surprising given the the lackluster FBS slate (Wyoming vs. New Mexico State and Colorado State vs. Hawaii).
