Bettor backs Eagles with $3.1 million bet to beat Panthers

A bettor in Kentucky is backing the Philadelphia Eagles to defeat the Carolina Panthers on Sunday with a $3.1 million bet, one of the largest bets ever reported on an NFL regular-season game.

Circa Sports accepted the Eagles moneyline bet on Thursday afternoon at odds of -700, which would net approximately $442,800. In response, the sportsbook moved its line on Philadelphia to -870 and lengthened Carolina to +650 as of Friday morning. Other sportsbooks have Philadelphia at -675, and the Birds give the Panthers about 13 points in the entire market spread.

Circa Sports owner Derek Stevens told ESPN that the bettor first placed $1 million on the Eagles, then asked to bet more, ending up with $3.1 million on Philadelphia. It’s the biggest bet the sportsbook has ever made, Stevens said. “I told my guys in the risk room to get to work and get the Panthers bought out,” Stevens said Friday. “Now that we’re in five states, we should have the liquidity to get enough buybacks to where we end up needing the Eagles.”

“We currently have the best Panthers [money-line] price on the board and they will be big Bryce Young fans on Sunday,” Circa sports betting director Jeff Benson told ESPN via email.

ESPN BET reports that Philadelphia is the highest bet moneyline in the book, as well as the second highest bet spread, by total tickets. The Eagles are also the highest-bet moneyline pick on DraftKings by bets and handle, and BetMGM says the Panthers (+575) are the second-highest underdog to win outright by total walks.

“Eagles-Panthers is our highest-bet game of the weekend, and it’s been largely one-way traffic with 70% of the spread and 80% of the moneyline in Philadelphia,” said the director of North American sports operations at ESPN BET, Adrian Horton. he said via email. “We opened the game at -12.5 and it’s still moving in the direction of the Eagles, now at -13 on Friday morning.”

The bet on Sunday’s game in Philadelphia is believed to be one of the largest ever placed on an NFL regular-season game. In Week 12, a bettor at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas placed a $1 million bet on the Los Angeles Rams to cover a three-point deficit against the Eagles at odds of -120; Los Angeles lost the game 37-20. In January 2023, a bettor lost a $1.4 million live moneyline bet when the Los Angeles Chargers blew a 27-0 lead to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs.

The largest recorded NFL bets of all time have been placed on the Super Bowl. Famed bettor Billy Walters reportedly bet $6 million on the New Orleans Saints’ points against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV, while Houston-area furniture salesman and gambler Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale has placed several bets on more than $3 million in recent championship games.