A betting legend passes; some refunds offered on hot dog bets

Yeah, they make lines on hot dog eating contests. People bet them, too. It’s not a monster handle, but there is action. Factor in an outlandish incident and Monday was just another day at the sportsbook window.

When Joey Chestnut sealed his 15th Nathan’s championship on the 4th of July by scarfing down 63 hot dogs, some bettors in New Jersey relished his modest total.

“We had some sharp play on under 74.5,” lamented Jeff Sherman, sportsbook manager for SuperBook. Jersey took bets on the contests; Pennsylvania did not.

» READ MORE: Sports betting: Baseball odds look a lot different today than before the season

And to clarify, Chestnut inhaled 63 dogs AND buns in 10 minutes. It’s a nauseating number for the timid among us, yet still well off the world record of 76. Geoffrey Esper finished a distant second with 43.

Chestnut was as high as -3000 to win in some sportsbooks, which means a $50 wager on him would have paid $1.67.

Miki Sudo, who was an even higher -5000, polished off 40 dogs and buns to take the women’s competition.

“We lost on the over/under,” said Tom Gable, head of the Borgata sportsbook in Atlantic City. “We opened at 49.5 and moved to as low as 47.5. [She] stayed well under the total.”

A protester, reportedly acting on behalf of animal rights, crashed the stage early on in the men’s competition before being subdued by Chestnut and security staff.

Chestnut was bumped during the fracas, and the disruption led FanDuel and DraftKings to refund all straight bets on Chestnut over 74.5. It was a nice gesture, though the incident didn’t appear to have that much of an impact on the world’s No. 1 competitive eater.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/04/joey-chestnut-wins-15th-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/

What did hamper Chestnut was the recently ruptured tendon in his right leg that forced him to enter the competition on crutches and in a protective boot. Back in December, Chestnut had broken his leg helping a friend search for a lost dog, then injured the same limb while on a training run.

“It hurts,” Chestnut told ESPN, “but I was in the zone for a little bit.”

*The Phillies are 20-9 under manager Rob Thomson and now have a 51.9% chance of making the playoffs according to metrics run by Baseball-Reference.com. They were at 16.3% the day before Joe Girardi was fired.

*PointsBet has the Phillies at 25-1 to win the NL East. But it looks like the Mets will get stud righthander Jacob deGrom back after the All-Star break, so don’t go running to the window too eagerly to bet the Phils. DeGrom struck out five of the six batters he faced in his first rehab start at single-A St. Lucie on Sunday.

*DraftKings took a $1,000 10-leg parlay on the UFC card Saturday night that would have paid $987,018.09. It went 4-4 with one bout ruled a “no contest” because of an eye-poke and another that isn’t taking place until July 16. There’s a reason they scream about parlays during those obnoxious commercials.

*The Timberwolves odds to win the championship at BetMGM went from 80-1 to 40-1 after getting Rudy Gobert from the Jazz.

Notable handicapper Hank Goldberg passed away on Monday, his birthday, after a long battle with kidney disease.

Goldberg was most famous for his work on the NFL, but like most in the business had an affinity for horse racing. ESPN said that in the 17 years he made football picks, Goldberg was better than .500 15 times. It typically takes a 53% success rate to turn a profit.

“I can assure you he was no phony,” longtime Vegas bookie Art Manteris told ESPN. “The Hammer always put his money where his mouth was … There were few opinions I valued more than Hank’s on the NFL.”