Bronny James received more betting interest to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft than eventual top pick Zaccharie Risacher.
"We were debating even putting it up, to be honest with you," Halvor Egeland, senior trader for BetMGM, said during a draft day phone interview with ESPN."We definitely didn't expect it to strike the most bets when we put it up." Steve, a 27-year-old avid sports bettor in Chicago, explained his reasoning for placing $60 worth of bets on Bronny James to go No. 1.
"I've been limited at all these books," Steve said."I'm not really betting that Bronny will go No. 1 overall; what I'm effectively betting is that there's some chance that all these books will say, 'whoever bet Bronny must be dumb' and then they'll give me better limits. That's the bet that I'm making." Steve was not alone in using Bronny bets to raise their limits at sportsbooks.
Money kept showing up on Bronny to be the top pick all the way until NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the start of the draft. BetMGM reported taking a $500 bet on Bronny to be the top pick at 250-1 odds in the hours leading up to the first round. When BetMGM closed betting on the odds to go No. 1, there were more bets on Bronny than