The Philadelphia Phillies are in the World Series for the first time since 2009. They are playing the Houston Astros, who the Phillies clinched a playoff berth against on Oct. 3.
Philadelphia has been on fire lately, with the Phillies in the World Series and the Eagles sitting at 6-0, the last undefeated team in the NFL. The Flyers (4-2) and Sixers (1-3) have also just begun their respective seasons.
Live! Casino Philadelphia is in the center of all the craziness. The casino, located in the stadium district, is walking distance from Citizens Bank Park, Wells Fargo Center and Lincoln Financial Field.
What has the atmosphere and betting volume been like at Live! Casino Philadelphia in the month of October?
Record handle numbers expected for October betting
October is one of the best sports months on the calendar with all five major sports’ regular seasons occurring at the same time, including MLS. On Oct. 20, what’s called the Sports Equinox happened for just the 27th time.
For Live! Casino Philadelphia, it almost seems like there’s a Philadelphia Sports Equinox all in action.
Here’s a list of games played during the month of October:
- Phillies: 11 playoff games with a best-of-seven World Series beginning Friday night
- Eagles: 3 regular season games with one more Sunday
- Sixers: 4 regular season games with four remaining this month
- Flyers: 6 regular season games with two left
- Union: 2 regular season games with two playoff games, including Sunday’s Eastern Conference title game
All of the sports, and winning, is keeping Bryan Newman, General Manager, FanDuel Sportsbook and Lounge at Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia, extremely busy.
“Busy would be an understatement to be honest with you,” Newman said. “We’re on pace once again for a record month. We are actually in range of having the biggest handle month in Pennsylvania retail sportsbook history. That number is slightly above $10 million and it looks like we might be at that number by the end of the month.”
Live! Casino Philadelphia opened in Feb. 2021 where FanDuel Sportsbook is the retail operator. Live! Casino Philadelphia’s record month came in March 2022, when it recorded $9.4 million in handle.
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh set the record for retail sports betting handle, recording $10.02 million in Dec. 2021.
Phillies’ shorter NLCS hurts handle, but World Series anticipation grows
Had the Phillies lost Sunday’s thriller to the Padres, Newman said that Live! Casino Philadelphia would have benefitted in handle from the extra games.
However, having four days between Phillies games has its pros, too.
“We would like to have more playoff games, that would drive more volume,” Newman said. “In essence, it really is building the drama for the World Series. It’s all anybody is talking about. It really does spur more interest in my opinion. That way we should have a bigger Friday and Saturday. The build-up has a lot of value to it.”
Live! Casino Philadelphia gets most of its action on the day of games. When people come into the casino after a high like Sunday night, most fans just want to rejoice.
“The first thing they do, of course, is order a cocktail before they do anything,” Newman said. “Then you’ll see random people high-fiving. The atmosphere is insane.”
The action that has come in so far, even from Phillies fans, has been on the Astros.
“Some people do it as an emotional hedge, but others think the Astros are the better baseball team.” Newman said.
Phillies and Eagles betting crossover
Since the Phillies have been in the playoffs, Live! Casino Philadelphia has been averaging three-and-a-half to four times more in handle than a regular season MLB game.
However, the Eagles tend to do 25% more handle than Phillies playoff games. But because of the Phillies’ run to the World Series, Live! Casino Philadelphia has seen more betting volume than normal on Eagles games.
“Definitely over the last month we’ve been seeing a lot of Eagles action,” Newman said. “When the Eagles cover, we tend to lose money on that game.”
The Eagles are 4-2 against the spread this season, but Newman said the Eagles covering brings people back.
The Eagles are playing between the two scheduled off days of the World Series:
- Friday, Oct. 28: Game 1 Phillies vs. Astros
- Saturday, Oct. 29: Game 2 Phillies vs. Astros
- Sunday, Oct. 30: Steelers vs. Eagles
- Monday, Oct. 31: Game 3 Astros vs. Phillies
- Tuesday, Nov. 1: Game 4 Astros vs. Phillies
- Wednesday, Nov. 2: Game 5 Astros vs. Phillies*
- Thursday, Nov. 3: Eagles vs. Texans
- Friday, Nov. 4: Game 6 Phillies vs. Astros*
- Saturday, Nov. 5: Game 7 Phillies vs. Astros*
*if necessary
On Thursday, Nov. 3, the Eagles will also be in Houston to take on the Texans. Newman is preparing for a Philly vs. Houston week at Live! Casino Philadelphia.
“There will definitely be an increase in handle if they’re going to play Thursday-Friday back-to-back,” Newman said of the Eagles and Phillies both playing in Houston. “[We’re expecting] pure chaos [for the next 10 days]. It will easily be the busiest Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday since we opened.”
Phillies World Series betting insight
Through Thursday afternoon, Newman said that 90% of Live! Casino Philadelphia’s handle is on the Phillies to win the World Series over the Astros.
As you’d expect, Bryce Harper is a popular candidate to win World Series MVP.
“The odds for Bryce Harper to win WS MVP is currently sitting at +550,” Newman said. “If he has a monster Game 1, we expect this number to drop to +350. Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos (+4000) have been the two most popular bets thus far.”
A Live! Casino Philadelphia bettor is hoping to cash this futures bet placed back in April before the regular season started:
WOW! Nice Phills bet! @FDSportsbook #fanduel #sportsbook #redoctober
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler pic.twitter.com/A4bcb4lXUz— Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia (@LiveCasinoPHL) October 25, 2022
