Daily Sports Betting Preview 4/10/2020: Call of Duty, Mega Millions, NFL Draft

• The Call of Duty League brings four matches of elite-level CoD to the table today.
• Betting on the Mega Millions could be a good way for bettors to get lotto action without leaving the house.
• The format for the NFL draft is different this year, which has given rise to some fun prop betting opportunities.

LAS VEGAS - The Daily Sports Betting Preview is back for this Friday edition, with three more opportunities for sports bettors across the world.

First, the Preview starts out looking at the Call of Duty CDL, a professional Call of Duty league. The CDL has four matches today.

Then, the Preview looks at the odds for the Mega Millions, so players at home can bet on the lottery no matter what state they’re in.

Finally, the Preview takes a look at some interesting NFL draft prop betting opportunities that have come with the NFL’s decision to hold a virtual draft.

There’s a lot to take a look at today, so let’s get started.

Call of Duty CDL Betting

Call of Duty is one of the oldest and most respected names in the shooting game genre. It should come as no surprise that a game of this pedigree has made inroads into the esports world.

The CDL is a professional Call of Duty league, where teams from all over the world compete to take home the prize.

There are four matches in the CDL today, as it returns for the weekend.

In the first match, the Seattle Surge take on the Paris Legion, and it looks to be anyone’s game, as the teams are evenly matched. The Surge have -110 odds, while the Paris Legion have -115 odds.

In the second match, the Florida Mutineers take on the Toronto Ultra. Florida is significantly favored, with -205 odds compared to Toronto’s +160.

In the third match, the Chicago Huntsmen take on the Minnesota ROKKR, in another even contest. Chicago enters with -110 odds, while Minnesota enters with -120 odds.

In today’s final match, the Dallas Empire clash with the LA Guerillas in the most lopsided match of the day. Dallas is a -800 favorite over LA, who clocks in with +450 odds to win.

All of the spreads in all of these matches use a system similar to the puck line in hockey. The way the CDL works is that teams play multiple games, so when the line is set at Team A +1.5, that refers to the amount of sets they win in a match.

The underdogs are given a handicap of +1.5, the favorites are handicapped at -1.5, and action is then taken on those. This is easier for the sportsbooks to handle than trying to create a real spread for events like this.

This is a good opportunity for unfamiliar bettors to dip their toes into the water of esports betting.

Mega Millions Betting

Betting on the lottery is an interesting concept. For one, many people don’t live in states that have a state lottery system and many more live in states that don’t let you buy lottery tickets online.

Betting on the lottery is an interesting way for online sportsbooks to get a cut of the action, for online sports bettors to be able to place bets, and for bettors to see profit off the lottery without actually leaving the house.

Here’s an example of how Mega Millions betting tends to work.

This is a very simple prop bet and it requires very little knowledge of anything in order to understand what’s going on here. Simply put, this is a wager about whether anyone will win the jackpot with odds suggesting that the answer will be no.

There are some more complex additions to the lottery betting world as well, however. For example, bettors can bet on what the golden Mega ball’s number will be, with each of the numbers from 1-24 given +2000 odds.

This is an interesting way to apply the concept of betting on the lottery and a welcome addition to sportsbooks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic - wherein it might not be advisable to leave your house to pick up lotto cards.

NFL Draft Prop Bets

The NFL draft will be broadcast from each player’s home, as well as from a central location. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Draft as it traditionally existed was not a good idea.

The NFL’s plan involves a draft in the style of many corporate meetings nowadays - each of the draft participants will video call in, both the teams and the players, and the broadcast will be put together from that.

It’s certainly a different format, and desperate times definitely do call for desperate measures.

However, the opportunity to see directly into the lives of many of the NFL draft prospects, as well as the teams doing the drafting, is an interesting one.

This situation has given rise to some interesting prop bets on the NFL Draft, and the Preview is here to break them down.

This is a bet on the amount of dogs that will be shown on the broadcast. As the players are video chatting from home, they will be surrounded by their friends and loved ones as well as their pets.

In a similar vein:

Evidently, the sportsbooks think that the NFL is a dog-person league. Cats have an over/under line of 0.5, while dogs are set at 3.5.

This is something the NFL would likely rather avoid, which is probably a big reason why NO is such a favorite here.

However, it is impossible to rule out YES as an option in this case, for the simple fact that everyone involved is a recent college student.

Note that it has to be the draftee who is drinking a beer, not just that the beer has to be in the shot - they have to be shown drinking it.

These are some fun little draft bets that should help to keep the night interesting.