This Week in Sports Betting: Going for the Gold

Things are about to get superheated again in the sports betting world. March Madness is just around the corner; so is baseball season. And it won’t be long before both the NBA and NHL are in the playoffs. But for the moment, things are relatively quiet on the odds board, as we shake off the Super Bowl hangover and look forward to the end of winter.

Relatively quiet, but still busy. The Winter Olympics are underway in PyeongChang, South Korea, and as the years go by, these Games draw more and more betting action. No big surprise there. Anyone who still thinks the Olympics are about citius, altius and fortius hasn’t been paying attention. The playoffs in men’s hockey are underway as we speak; the gold medal will be awarded this Sunday, and at press time, it’s the Olympic Athletes of Russia favored at –125 over at Bovada, followed by Sweden at +350 and Canada at +500.

As you may be aware, Olympic Athletes of Russia does not mean Team Russia. Their NOC is under sanctions, but some 169 athletes were allowed to participate anyway, just without their national colors. Too bad they didn’t decide to dress in green. The OAR hockey team is made up entirely of KHL players – that’s the Kontinental Hockey League, which took an Olympic break while the NHL and most European leagues did not. It won’t be another Miracle on Ice if anyone beats the OAR; Slovakia already beat them 3-2 in Group B. But this faux team has a big built-in advantage over the rest of the field, and if you think the Russian government isn’t still doing what it can to help out (ahem), once again, you haven’t been paying attention.

No More Easy Money

Back on this side of the pond, the NBA is about to return from a well-deserved week off for the All-Star Game. Savvy bettors have made a mint fading the Cleveland Cavaliers (34-22 SU, 18-37-1 ATS) this year, but the Cavaliers may have turned off the taps when they made all those moves at the trade deadline. They’re 3-0 SU and ATS since clearing out the deadwood and bringing in George Hill, Larry Nance Jr., Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson to play alongside LeBron James.

Cleveland’s first game after the break is Thursday at home against the Washington Wizards (33-24 SU, 27-30 ATS), who have kept their ship afloat despite losing point guard John Wall to knee surgery. The Wiz are 7-2 SU and ATS since Wall returned to the injured list, but they’ll have a bit more trouble getting past Cleveland if back-up PG Tim Frazier doesn’t make it back from nasal surgery in time for Thursday’s game.

Time’s Up for Sparty

On the college hoops front, we’re down to the last handful of games before Champ Week, and all eyes are on the Michigan State Spartans – for mixed reasons, unfortunately. While the Spartans (26-3 SU, 14-13-2 ATS) have taken over the No. 1 spot on the coaches poll, their program has now fallen into the wider sexual misconduct investigation in East Lansing, and these guys already having trouble beating the NCAAB odds at 1-5-2 ATS in their last eight games.

Finally, we’ve got another busy weekend coming up in combat sports. There’s a very interesting WBC super flyweight title fight coming up this Saturday between champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and challenger Juan Francisco Estrada; Sor Rungvisai is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, but he’s available at +100 for this matchup. And in the Octagon, it’ll be Josh Emmett and Jeremy Stephens (–160) in the main event at Saturday’s UFC on Fox 26 card in Orlando. Always tons of betting value with these smaller UFC events, so don’t miss out – and remember to tuck your chin.