Head of Football at Caesars Sportsbook: Lots of Lions and Bills Action So Far
Posted on: August 13, 2025, 06:34h.
Last updated on: August 14, 2025, 10:56h.
- Bills early betting favourites to win the Super Bowl
- Casino.org interview with Head of Football at Caesars Sportsbook
- Micro markets growing in popularity, for more instant gratification
When talking NFL betting, August is the month where you see a lot of futures betting, on the Super Bowl, and on the divisions, says Head of Football at Caesars Sportsbook, Joey Feazel. And on that front, there’s a lot of action on the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills so far.
Cook Signs New Deal with Bills
The Lions were close last year [bowing out the Washington Commanders in the NFC Divisional game, 45-31],” he said. “We’re seeing some preseason action this week, that usually is pretty good on the day of the game, which serves as a dress rehearsal for many teams who are going to play starters. A lot of bettors will be able to wager on their team, and be able to see, especially in the first half, how their starters are going to look for the season.”
Week 2 of the NFL pre-season cranks up Friday night, with a full schedule through Monday. The Caesars Palace Sportsbook in Las Vegas is cranking up for another NFL season as well, jammed regularly during NFL weekends with bettor. Into playoffs and the Super Bowl a spokesperson here details how Caesars needs to install bleachers at the Vegas sportsbook to accommodate the crowd overflow.
NFL Dominates Betting
Other than March Madness on the NCAA men’s basketball front, nothing brings in bettors like the NFL, Feazel tells Casino.org, along with the energy of being in the sportsbook, with hundreds of people betting at the same time.
“What we’re seeing is the NFL just grow and grow in popularity,” he said. “We’re going to see here, probably in the next couple of years, they’re going to expand another week. Then we’re going to have a President’s Day Super Bowl, to where we actually have, like a holiday on a Monday. And we’ve seen how this industry has grown and how popular the NFL is year in, year out, and that continues to grow.”
Boon for Sportsbooks
The betting buzz around the Bills is understandable. Right now, Caesars Sportsbook has the Bills at +625, the Super Bowl betting favourite, just ahead of the Philadelphia Eagles (+700). The Lions are +1100.
The Bills announced today they inked a new contract extension with running back James Cook, four years at USD $48 million, a big step in the right direction. The Pro Bowler Cook takes some of the heat off MVP quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills with Cook in there, along with that nasty offensive line, don’t need to be pass happy. Their roster is right in the sweet spot.
Plus, the team this year is featured on HBO’s Hard Knocks, making the Bills even more front and centre among bettors.
Last season, the storyline over the first three weeks of the NFL was more an anomaly – six- or seven-point favorites losing at a hectic clip, wild unpredictability which was a big boon for the sportsbooks, with scoring down, perhaps more a commentary on the general parity around the NFL these days.
League Parity
“What usually serves the sports betting industry is the kind of randomness, the parity, that you can think something’s going to happen, and then the completely opposite happens, which happens a lot of times for the NFL,” said Feazel.
Last season balanced out, like it always does – games were more predictable from October going forward.
“We’re assuming that we’re going to see some more randomness and more variance in the NFL,” he added. “That’s the reason we love football, the fact on any given Sunday, any team can win.”
Kickoff Rule Change Should Impact Totals
The big rule change coming into the new season that Feazel expects will impact betting (especially on Totals) the most is the kick off change – moving the touchback from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, aiming to further increase kickoff returns, making touchbacks less appealing for kicking teams.
That ball placement on the 35 via a touchback if the ball goes into the end zone increases the likelihood a team will score.
“I expect the market not to really adjust to that immediately,” he said. “I think it’s a kind of a wait and see, because sometimes you think something’s going to happen and it doesn’t.”
Feazel said to look for the continued growth on in game and live betting as well.
In-Game Betting Surges in Popularity
“In-game has been growing, gaining popularity, year after year,” he said. “I think there’s something fun to be able to watch that game as it’s going on and wager. I’ve been in the industry for close to 15 years, and it didn’t used to be the case. It used to be, all you could have was a second half wager. Now you can bet on anything.
“What really resonates with customers, growing in popularity, is micro markets – betting on the drive, some team to cross the 50-yard line, some team to score on this drive, or will someone get a touchdown on this drive? And it’s kind of that instant gratification, that instant bet, that you can bet on something and have a result within five to 10 minutes that really resonates with customers. Those bets are usually smaller stakes. That’s what makes it fun – as opposed to having $100 on a game you can have $5, $10 at a time on micro markets.”
Bettors Like Micro Markets
Last year Caesars Sportbook offered thousands of Super Bowl props, to celebrate the game being played at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. This year they will again look to top that, when Super Bowl betting prep gets going around the playoffs. The coin toss is always a popular Super Bowl prop, as it the “octopus” – the player scores a touchdown and a 2-point conversion, for 8 points. Fastest player on the field is growing in popularity.
Caesars bookmakers started the Super Bowl prop betting craze in 1986, when they decided to offer what was the most exotic Super Bowl prop bet ever – 20-to-1 odds on William “The Fridge” Perry scoring a touchdown in Super Bowl XX. As the buzz got out there, odds shifted all the way down to 2-to-1.
Even at that low a price bets came in on Perry before kickoff. Perry, a 6-foot-2, 335-pound defensive tackle, did score a rushing touchdown late in that game, a massive win for bettors, setting off a new era in sports betting.
“The Super Bowl is the big shebang,” Feazel said. “It’s your biggest action event all year long. And it’s something we’re always excited for.”
No comments yet