The NFL Draft used to consist of team executives stuffed into a smoke filled conference room of a hotel and was kept very simple. After ESPN started televising the event and fans got in on the fun, it’s become more than just handing a card to the commissioner. And now, you can gamble on the NFL Draft.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board agreed and gave Nevada sports books the approval to place bets during the NFL Draft, taking place in the last weekend in April.
While this seems like a no-brainer to make available to gamble on, since it seems like everything else can have a bet placed, it’s not that simple. The reason why it’s taken this long for people to bet on the NFL Draft is because draft picks are known by teams in advance. For instance, if the Browns already know who they’re taking with the number one pick, someone in the know could bet big and easily win.
This is why you won’t be able to bet on everything at the NFL Draft. Instead of betting on who goes where in specific positions, you can only place prop bets on things that won’t likely alter the result of the NFL Draft. For instance, you can bet on over/under how many trades in the first round, number of players from a certain college or position in which the first linebacker will be selected. You could also have a choice between two things like choosing which conference will have the most players drafted.
While the Control Board has been leery on approving bets based on awards known in advance, they have allowed bets on the Heisman Trophy and MLB’s awards. These results are know by some people in advance but the difference between that and the NFL Draft is that someone can choose a different player and cause major problems both on the NFL side and the gambling side. So it’s best to just leave that part of betting out.
Betting on the NFL Draft will certainly help in watching the later rounds on Sunday. Vegas will be anticipating whether or not “Mr. Irrelevant” will come from a Power 5 school.
