BetOnline’s Odds Boosts for August 24th

The good folks at BetOnline have countless bonuses and promotional offers available to their members. Every day, the site’s sportsbook will offer odds boosts on certain games, which gives sports bettors the chance to take advantage of unique odds you won’t find at any other site.


BetOnline is offering bettors three odds booster opportunities for Monday, August 24. Let’s break them down and try to uncover some betting value, shall we?

MLB: Rays, Cardinals, and Diamondbacks ALL To Win (+325)

We have just nine games on Monday’s Major League Baseball schedule. This odds boost pays out at +325 if the Cardinals, Rays, and Diamondbacks all win their games. St. Louis will face the Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay takes on the Toronto Blue Jays, and Arizona will host the Colorado Rockies.

On paper, these are all mismatches in favor of the Cardinals, Rays, and D-Backs. All three teams also happen to have ace-caliber pitchers on the hill. The Rays will have Blake Snell facing a young, strikeout-happy Blue Jays side. The Cardinals will throw Jack Flaherty to the mound against a generally underwhelming Royals offense. Merrill Kelly will toe the rubber for the Diamondbacks against a Rockies team that has lost seven straight games and 10 of their last 11 overall.

These three teams are also sizable moneyline favorites, per BetOnline’s odds. You can get Tampa Bay at -210 on the moneyline, while St. Louis is at -170, and Arizona sits at -155.

Baseball is inherently more random than sports like basketball, however. Even the worst MLB teams will win 50-to-60 games over the course of a standard 162-game season. This year is different with the truncated 60-game schedule, but that logic still applies. The Rays, Cards, and D-Backs all look like strong picks to win individually, but banking on all three getting the results they need certainly adds quite a bit of risk given baseball’s general unpredictability.

NHL: Flyers and Avalanche BOTH To Win (+245)

Monday’s NHL playoff schedule features a pair of interesting matchups. The Philadelphia Flyers will square off against the New York Islanders in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series, while the Dallas Stars will look to take a 2-0 series lead over the Colorado Avalanche in the nightcap.

The Flyers are narrow -115 moneyline favorites to take Game 1, while the Avs are more substantial -150 favorites. Philadelphia finished the regular season nine points clear of New York in the Metropolitan Division standings, but the Islanders actually swept the season series 3-0.

While we can’t take too much out of head-to-head results from the regular season considering most of the campaign took place several months ago, the fact that Philly and Colorado have still yet to win even one game against their opponents is plenty of cause for concern.

NBA: Lakers -7.5 AND Over 224.5 (+325)

The Los Angeles Lakers will look to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 4 on Monday night. Two of the three games have been pretty competitive to this point, but the Lakers have clearly looked like the better side since Portland pulled the upset in Game 1.

The Lakers’ complementary players are fairly underwhelming, but there’s very little the Blazers can do defensively when both LeBron James and Anthony Davis are cooking. James put up 38 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in Game 3, while Davis chimed in with 29 points, 11 boards, and eight assists of his own.

Big Night. #LakersWin @KingJames: 38 pts, 12 reb, 8 ast@AntDavis23: 29 pts, 11 reb, 8 asthttps://t.co/1vQry6pEcz

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 23, 2020

Both of Los Angeles’ wins in this series have come by at least eight points. However, the games have been lower-scoring than many expected. The two teams failed to combine for even 200 points in Games 1 and 2, while they combined to score exactly 224 in Game 3. The Trail Blazers have played a number of high-scoring games since the restart, thanks to their high-octane offense and lackluster defense.

The Lakers, however, have been one of the sturdiest defensive teams in basketball all year long. L.A. hasn’t exactly contained Damian Lillard to this point, but the Lakers have done a fine job of limiting the effectiveness of Portland’s ancillary offensive threats.

What’s The Best Bet?

I don’t think the NHL odds boost offers nearly enough value given the +245 odds. The fact that the Flyers and Avalanche have both yet to figure out how to beat the Islanders and Stars, respectively, gives me plenty of pause. I would have more interest in taking the odds if they were more favorable, but I’d pass on the current +245 number on both Philly and Colorado to win.

The Lakers are certainly capable of blowing out the Trail Blazers and easily covering the 7.5 points, but hitting the over on 224 points looks more tricky. That said, all three regular-season meetings between the teams went over 224 points pretty easily. I’m skeptical of the Blazers’ ability to hold up their end of the bargain, but 224.5 is still a pretty attackable number.

I think the Cardinals, Rays, and Diamondbacks are all justifiable favorites, but the fact that you need all three results to go your way in order for that bet to cash makes it difficult to trust. You can get the baseball and basketball boosts at the same +325 odds. Because you need just two results in NBA as opposed to three in MLB, I’d say the Lakers’ spread and the over 224.5 points are the easier path to cash.

The NBA boost is the best value bet here, followed closely by MLB at +325. I’d pass altogether on the NHL two-way result at +245.